
\^s*l 



DIGEST OF LAWS 



RELATING TO 



Free Schools 



IN THE 



STATE OF ARKANSAS. 



AND 



FOEMS FOR USE OF SCHOOL OFFICERS, 

COMPILED AND ANNOTATED BY JUNIUS JORDAN, 
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 



BY AUTHORITY. 



LITTLE ROCK, ARK.: 

LITTLE ROCK PRINTING COMPANY. 

1897. 



APR :■' 190; 



V 






^ 



\^ 



A= 



OV" 



CHAPTER CXXXIX 
OF 



SANDELSc^ HILL'S DIGEST 



I. SCHOOLS. 
Section 

free schools — support of. 

6930. The state ever to maintain free schools; who maj receive 
^•^ gratuitous instruction. 

6931. State taxes for support of ; limit; per capita tax; additional 

taxation may be in school districts; limit. 

COMMON SCHOOL FUND. 

6932. What moneys and other property constitute this fund; to be 

invested. 

6933. County courts may place certain funds to credit of school 

districts, when. 

6934. Principal arising from sale of sixteenth sections shall not be 

apportioned or used. 

6935. Certain townships, when not entitled to proceeds. 

6936. Income of fund and per capita tax, how appropriated. 

6937. Auditor to draw warrant on treasurer for school revenues 

due the counties, when. 

6938. County collector to collect per capita tax and pay into county 

treasury, when and how. 
6939. " Debts due the fund by estates preferred. 

6940. '2. No costs to be charged in suits for dues to the fund, when. 

COMMISSIONERS OP SCHOOL FUND. 

6941. Board of <;ommissioners, who compose; when and where to 
,^.,.-, .,^ meet. 

6942. " Governor to be president of board. 

6943. f Superintendent of public instruction to be secretary and 
;_;;;;_ keep record of proceedings; copy of record to be evi- 

3 dence. 

6944. Board to invest fund in bonds. 

6945. Suits for moneys due the fund may be in any court having 

jurisdiction, when; board may direct officer to prose- 
cute suit. 

6946. All moneys accruing to the fund to be paid into treasury ; 

how paid out. 

6947. Auditor accountant for boi^id; oo make report, when and to 

whom. 



4 . SCHOOL LAWS. 

Section. 

6948. Auditor to draw warrants on the fund to pay for investments^ 

when. 

6949. Treasurer to pay such warrants and keep in treasury all se- 

curities so purchased. 

6950. Board to make settlements with the state treasurer, when. 

SUPERVISION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

6951. General assembly to provide officers for. 

STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 

6952. When elected. 

6953. Oath of. 

6954. To have general superintendency of the schools of the state. 

6955. OfiBce to be at Little Rock; have all books, etc., of his de- 

partment there, and of all the business of his office keep 
a record. 

6956. 6957, 6958, 6959, 6960, 6961, 6962, 6963. Duties and powers of. 

6964. Report to governor, when. 

6965. Governor to transmit report to general assembly. 

6966. Superintendent to have his reports published and distributed. 

6967. 6968, 6969, 6970, 6971. Powers and duties; further specifica- 

tions of. 

6972. Vacancy in office of superintendent, how filled. 

6973. Superintendent or examiner acting as book agent, or receiv- 

ing pay for influence, guilty of misdemeanor. 

6974. Superintendent may grant state certificates to any person 

passing an examination. 

6975. May prepare list of text-books and recommend same. 

6976. Impressions of superintendent's seal of office to be fur- 

nished to secretary of state. 

6977. Documents, etc., in superintendent's office, how to be au- 

thenticated. 

6978. To prepare forms for grades of certificates to teachers, 

school registers, reports of directors and examiners. 

DISTRICT NORMAL SCHOOLS. 

6979. 6980, 6981, 6982, 6983. Changed to county normals by act of 

April 20, 1895. 

SCHOOL DISTRICTS. 

6984. Repealed. 

6985. When change proposed, notice to be given; how, where and 

when posted. 

6986. Schools to be body corporate; name of; corporate powers. 

6987. To have property in corporate name. 

6988. No district to be formed, nor old one reduced, so as to con- 

tain less than thirty persons of scholastic age. 

6989. County court may form new districts or change boundaries; 

when. 

6990. Such territory to have requisite children or property. 

6991. Proportional share of debt to be adjusted. 

6992. Proportionate share of surplus fund to be adjusted. 

APPORTIONMENT OF SCHOOL FUND. 

6993. County court to apportion school revenue to the districts; 

rule. 

6994. New districts, when and how to be apportioned. 

6995. County examiners to report number of residents in each dis- 

trict. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 

Section. 

6996. County clerks to lay reports before the court. 

6997. Counties losing funds by change of boundaries, to be reim- 

bursed. 

6998. Amounts thus paid deducted from share of what counties. 

6999. Auditor to draw warrant for county's share of school fund, 

when. 

COUNTY EXAMINERS. 

7000. How appointed, commissioned, etc. 

7001. Appointments heretofore made validated. 

7002. Oath of. 

7003. To stand examination before entering on duties. 

7004. No one to fill the office of examiner and school director at 

the same time. 

7005. Clerk to notify superintendent of appointment, etc. 

7006. Superintendent to examine, or appoint some one to examine 

him; questions to be used. 

7007. Salary of; limit to. 

7008. Examiner not to examine applicant until fee is paid treas- 

urer, etc. 

7009. Duty of examiner. 

7010. Examination, what to consist of. ^ 

7011. Examiner to give certificates according to grade t^hose en- 

titled. 

7012. Shall not license certain persons described. 

7013. May cite for re -examination and revoke licenses; when. 

7014. Effect of such revocation. 

7015. Additional examination in regard to land surveys. 

7016. Failure to teach the instructions required in preceding sec- 

tion, cause to revoke licenses. 

7017. To issue three grades of certificates. 

7018. To keep record of teachers licensed. 

7019. To encourage inhabitants to establish public schools; report 

to state superintendent condition of schools in his 
county, etc. 

7020. Annual report of, what to contain. 

7021. To number the school districts and keep record and descrip- 

tion of each. 

7022. May appoint person to hold institutes and examinations, 

when. 

7023. County judge may remove examiner and appoint successor, 

when. 

7024. Examiner failing to perform required duties; forfeiture. 

7025. Examiner to present, and may have allowed, by the county 

court, an account; of what; how much allowed. 

7026. How paid. 

ANNUAL, SCHOOL MEETING. 

7027. 7028. When held; who may vote. 

7029. Quorum; routine of business. 

7030. Annual district election, how held; judges and clefks of 

7031. Ballot, form of; returns, how made. 

7032. Result of election to be delivered to county clerk. 

7033. County court to open returns and determine amount of taxes 

voted. 

7034. Taxes so voted, how levied and collected. 



6 SCHOOL LAWS. 

Section. 

school directors. 

7035. When elected; term of oflSce. 

7036. Judges to give certificate within five days; director to qualify- 

within ten days thereafter; filing certificate and oath. 

7037. Oath of office, by whom administered. 

7038. 7039. Kef usal to qualify as director, forfeiture ; failing to per- 

form duties of his office, forfeiture. 

7040. Vacancy in office of director, how filled. 

7041, 7042, 7043. Directors, board of; duties and powers. 

7044. Month, meaning of, in school law. 

7045. Directors may expend annually not more than twenty- five 

dollars for charts, etc. 

7046. 7047, 7048, 7049, 7050, 7051. Directors, board of; further speci- 

fication of duties and powers. ,.^;^ 

7052. Warrant drawn by directors; county treasurer to pay.1 

7053. Directors to give notice of annual school meeting; contents 

of notice. 

7054. 7055. Director, one to be clerk at all district meetings, and 

keep record of proceedings; also to keep the yearly ac- 
counts of the district. 

7056. Directors to report to county clerk the officers elected and 

amount of money voted at annual meeting. 

7057. Directors to report annually to county examiner; contents of 

report. 

7058. Directors failing to make this report, liable in damages. 

7059. Directors to settle annually with county treasurer. 
7060,7061. Directors may suspend any pupil for cause; may per- 
mit older persons to attend school. 

7062, 7063, 7064. County court may transfer scholars to an adjoin- 
ing district, when; regulations concerning such transfer. 

7065. Directors may permit private school to be taught in district 

school house, when. 

7066. Directors may cause schools to be closed, when. 

7067. Directors and examiners exempt from road work. 

7068. Neglect to report tax levied at annual meeting liability for 

loss; fine. 

7069. Directors to furnish county clerk with list of all persons own- 

ing property in the district liable to pay special tax, 
when. 

7070. Neglect of any duty under school laws, fine for. 

TEACHERS. 

7071. Must have certificate and license to teach, or not entitled to 

pay. 

7072. Must keep daily register. 

7073. Duty of, to attend teachers' institute. 

7074. Not to permit sectarian books to be used in school. 

7075. How paid; preference of claim. 

7076. To return register, or else pay stopped. 

TRESPASS ON SCHOOL HOUSE, ETC. 

7077. Injuring school house, fixtures, etc., fine for. 

SCHOOL WARRANTS — DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS, ETC. 

7078. County collectors and treasurers not to be interested in 

school warrants. 

7079. District school tax payable in warrants of district. 



SCHOOL LAWS. / 

Section. 

7080. County treasurer to keep register of school warrants, how. 

7081. County treasurer to give notice of receipt of school funds; 

how such funds paid out. fefe^a^^^ 

7082. Officer failing to comply with act, punishment. jg sj;^ 

7083. Director fraudulently issuing warrant, punishment. -~-^'"-!^'*^ 

7084. County treasurer to report school funds received by him, 

disbursements and balance in treasury, when. 

7085. Oi'ders of directors to be presented to treasurer, when; 

order of payment. 

7086. If not paid, how indorsed; record of such warrants. 

VIOLATION OP SCHOOL LAWS -DUTY OP PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS. 

7087. Prosecuting attorneys, when school laws are violated, to 

bring offenders to trial; compensation; costs in such 
cases. 

SPECIAL ACTS POR SCHOOLS IN CITIES AND TOWNS. 

7088. Cities and towns may be special districts. 

7089. 7090. Procedure to adopt the act and elect directors. 

7091. Election in, when and how held. 

7092. By whom held, duties, compensation and oath of judges and 

clerks. % 

7093. Polls, when opened and closed. ♦ 

7094. If a regular judge fails to appear, when and how judge 

elected. 

7095. When electors vote. 

7096. Returns of election. 

7097. Duty of clerk; duty of county clerk. 

7098. Directors, when and how to qualify. 

7099. Provisions of chapter not applicable. 

7100. Board to organize, how. 

7101. Meetings of board; quorum; board may make rules for its 

own government. 

7102. 7103. Powers and dutiej of board. 

7104. Warrants on the county treasury, how drawn and signed. 

7105. Secretary of board, duties of, compensation. 

7106. Title to all school property vested in city or town as a school 

district, and to be under control of directors. 

7107. Name of district; corporate powers; style of board. 

7108. Debts of former districts to be paid. 

7109. Directors failing to qualify or to perform their official duties; 

penalty. 

7110. Board of visitors and examiners, how appointed; term of 

office; appointee failing to perform duties; penalty, ^j 

7111. District to receive full share of school fund. 

7112. State superintendent to make suggestions, etc., to directors. 

7113. Provisions of the general school law; when to apply to spe- 

cial districts ; county court may annex contiguous terri- 
tory, when. 

II. SCHOOL LANDS. 

7114. Inhabitants of any congressional township may petition for 

sale of sixteenth section. 

7115. Duties of collector on receipt of petition. 

7116. If subdividing no tract shall contain more than forty acres. 

7117. Collector shall cause each subdivision to be appraised. 

7118. Collector shall give public notice of time of sale. 



8 SCHOOL LAWS. 

Section 

7119. Collector shall offer each tract separately. Sale shall take 

place between the hours of 12 m. and 3 p. m., and may 
be continued from day to day. No tract shall be sold 
for less than appraisement. If any tract remain unsold 
collector may without petition sell again, giving notice 
of sale. 

7120. Collector shall report sales to county court. If sales not con- 

firmed court shall direct collector to advertise and sell 
again. Form of certificate to be given to purchaser. 
Commissioner of state lands shall make deed on pre- 
sentation of certificate. 

7121. Collector shall pay all costs of sales out of proceeds. 

7122. County clerk shall ascertain who are paying taxes on the 

sixteenth sections; other duties. 

7123. County clerk shall keep the account of each township en- 

titled to benefits from this act. 

7124. Penalty imposed on county clerk for failing to keep record. 

7125. Collection of claims due common school fund; authorizes at- 

torney general to employ competent attorneys in each 
county to collect claims due on account of sixteenth 
section; other duties. 

7126. State treasurer shall place to credit of proper county all 

moneys received on account of sixteenth section lands. 

7127. State treasurer to invest money and place accrued interest 

to credit of each county. 

7128. Accrued interest may be drawn in same manner as now pro- 

vided for by law. 

7129. All evidences of indebtedness arising from sales of sixteenth 

sections shall be turned over to commissioner of state 
lands. 

7130. County collectors and treasurers shall turn over to state 

treasurer all the moneys in their hands belonging to 
sixteenth section fund. 

7131. Commissioner of state lands shall keep record of all deeds j 

made for sixteenth section lands. '^ 

PATENTS. 

7132. Last assignee of certificate for school lands entitled to deed, 

when. 
7123. Auditor to execute deed for school lands to heirs at law, 
when. 

7134. Lands so conveyed, to stand charged with amount advanced 

by estate to procure title. 

7135. Patents issued, and all official acts done during the war con- 

cerning school lands, made valid. 

7136. Rights of the state in such lands, acquired under judgment, 

etc., where deeds had been made to purchasers, vested 
in the proper owners under such deeds. 

7137. Certain suits by the state for school lands to be dismissed. 

7138. Commissioner of state lands to make deed for school lands 

paid for, and for which no conveyance has been made. 

LEASE OP SCHOOL LANDS. 

7139. Collector to lease school lands, when. • 

7140. Manner and terms of leasing. 

7141. Notice of leasing, how given. 

7142. Leased by private contract, when. 

7143. Occupants to pay rent. 

7144. Lessees, rules governing, minimum rent. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 9 

I. SCHOOLS. 

FEEE SCHOOLS — ^^UPPOET OF. 

Section 6930. Intelligence and virtue being the 
safe-guards of liberty, and the bulwark of a free and 
good government, the state shall ever maintain a gen- 
eral, suitable and efficient system of free schools, 
whereby all persons in the state, between the age of six 
and twenty-one years, may receive gratuitous instruc- 
tion. 

Sec. 6931. The general assembly shall provide, 
by general laws, for the support of common schools by 
taxes, which shall never exceed in any one year two 
mills on the dollar on the taxable property of the state ; 
and by an annual j;er capita tax of one dollar, to be as- 
sessed on every male inhabitant of this state over the 
age of twenty-one years. Provided, The general as- 
sembly may, by general law, authorize school districts 
to levy, by a vote of the qualified electors of such dis- 
tricts, a tax not to exceed five mills on the dollar in 
any one year for school purposes. Provided further. 
That no such tax shall be appropriated to any other 
purpose, nor to any other district, than that for which 
it was levied. Art. 14, sees. 1 and 3, Const. 

POWER TO TAX FOR SCHOOIi PURPOSES. 

The state is the source of authority. "Every municipal corpo- 
ration and every political division of the state must be able to show 
due authority from the state to ma,ke the demand." 

Cooley on Taxation, 474. 
School districts are civil corporations, and the legislature may 
confer upon them the power to tax for school purposes. 

State V. Bremond, 38 Texas, 116. 
The words "public schools" are synonymous with "common 
schools," and mean the schools created by law and maintained at 
the public expense, and which are open and common to the child- 
ren of the inhabitants alike. 

Jenkins v. Andover, 103 Mass., 94. 

People V. Board of Education, 13 Barb. {N. F.), 490. 

Holbert v. Sparks, 9 Bush, 259. 

Webster'^s Dictionary, Common Schools. 

Henderson v. Collins and Jett, Kentucky Reports. 

AbbotVs Law Dictionary, title, Common Schools. 
Taxation for pvibJic schools is for a public use and purpose, and 
public education is a fit and appropriate object of taxation. 

68 M. E., 582. 

Williams v. School District, 33 Vt., 271. 

Marshall v. Donovan, 10 Buch. (Ky.), 681. 

6 Cowen [N. F.), 543. 

56 Pa. St. 359; 22 Grattan {Va.), 857. 



10 SCHOOL LAWS. 

There can be no taxation in aid of a private educational institu- 
tion operated for individual profit . 

Curtis^ Admr^s. v. Whipple, 24 Wis., 350. 
Philadelphia Assn. v. Wood, 39 Pa. St., 73. 
That a school building was larger than was immediately needed, 
and that the vote specified among other uses of a part of the build- 
ing, that of holding school society meetings and lectures therein, 
does not vitiate the tax, nor authorize a court to enjoin the same. 
Sheldon v. Centre School District, 25 Conn., 224. 
Oreenbanks v. Boutwell, 43 Vt., 207. 
In New Hampshire it has been held that a vote by a school dis- 
trict to remove and repair a school house came within the author- 
ity granted by the statute to raise money "for erecting and repair- 
ing school houses." 

Bumpv. State, 4 (N. H.), 48. 
Taxation to support high schools and normal schools has been 
declared proper and lawful unless absolutely restricted by the con- 
stitution. 

Stuart V. School District, 30 Mich., 69. 

Report U. S. Com'r. Ed. for 1876-7. 

Richards v. Raymond, Supt. Court of Illinois, Nov. 10, 

1879. 
Chicago Legal News, Vol. 12, No. 11. 
Merrick and others v. Inhabitants of Newburyport, 10 

Metcalf {Mass.), 508. 
Briggs et al. v. Johnson County, Mo., 4 Dillon C. C. R., 

148. 
Commonwealth v. Dedham, 16 Mass., 141. 
Commonwealth v. Sheffield, 11 Cush (Mass.), 178. 
Jenkins v. Andover, 103 Mass., 94. 
In a Massachusetts case it was decided that money raised for 
the support of a female high school for the purpose of teaching 
book-keeping, algebra, geometry, history, rhetoric, mental, moral 
and natural philosophy, botany, the Latin and French languages, 
was lawfully raised by taxation. 

10 Metcalf (Mass.), 508. 
Because a constitution expressly names free schools and a uni- 
versity, and does not name normal schools, is no constitutional 
reason against taxation to establish normal schools. 

Briggs v. Johnson County, 4 Dill, C. C. R., 148. 

COMMON SCHOOL FUND. 

Sec. 6932. The proceeds of all land? that have 
been, or hereafter may be, granted by the United 
States to this state, and not otherwise appropriated by 
the United States or this state; also all moneys, stocks, 
bonds, lands and other property now belonging to any 
fund for purposes of education ; also the net proceeds 
of all sales of lands and other property and effects that 
may accrue to this state by escheat, or from sales of es- 
trays, or from unclaimed dividends, or distributive 
shares of the estates of deceased persons ; also any pro- 
ceeds of the sale of public lands which may have been, 
or may be hereafter, paid over to the state (congress 



SCHOOL LAWS. 11 

consenting); also ten per cent of the net proceeds of 
the sales of all state lands, and it shall be the duty of 
the state treasurer to set this ten per cent to the credit 
of the common school fund when he receives the pro- 
ceeds of this sale from state land commissioner; also 
all the grants, gifts or devises that have been or here- 
after may be made to this state, and not otherwise ap- 
propriated by the tenure of the grant, gift or de^dse, 
shall be securely invested and sacredly preserved as a 
public school fund that shall be designated as the 
"common school fund" of the state, and which shall 
be the common property of the state, except the pro- 
ceeds arising from the sale or lease of the sixteenth sec- 
tion («). Act December 7, 1875, sec. 1, as amended 
Marcli 15, 1897. 

Sec. 6933. The county courts of the various coun- 
ties are authorized and empowered to place to the credit 
of the common school fund of the county, any%nd all 
school funds that may be in the county treasury, de- 
, rived from various sources, and about which there is 
any doubt as to their proper application with the 
county court, and that said school funds, when so 
placed to the credit of the common school fund, shall 
be, by said county courts, apportioned among the 
school districts of the county as is now provided by 
law. 

Sec. 6934. The principal arising from the sale of 
the sixteenth section of land shall never be apportioned 
or used. 

Sec. 6935. Should any of the funds mentioned in 
this act arise from the sale of said sixteenth section of 
land and there should be any doubt as to the township 
from whence it came, then such townships as have not 
disposed of the sixteenth section of land, or may have 
disposed of the same and have the proceeds placed to 
their credit, shall not be entitled to any part of the in- 
terest arising from said doubtful sixteenth section fund. 
Act Marcli 13, 1885. sees. 1, 2. 

Sec. 6936. The annual income from the said 
fund, together with one dollar j;er capita to be annually 

(a) No money or property belonging to the public school fund, 
or to this state, for the benefit of schools or universities, shall ever 
be used for any other than for the respective purposes to which it 
belongs. Art. 14, sec. 2, Const. 



12 SCHOOL LAWS. 

assessed on every male inhabitant over the age of 
twenty-one years, and so much of the ordinary annual 
revenues of the state as may hereafter be set apart by 
law for such purposes, shall be faithfully appropriated 
for maintaing a system of free common schools for this 
state, and shall be appropriated to no other purpose 
whatever. Act December 7, 1875, sec. 2. 

Sec. 6937. The state auditor shall, on requisition 
from the state superintendent of public instruction, 
draw warrants on the state treasurer for payment to 
the several county treasurers of the school revenues due 
their respective counties. 

Sec. 6938, The per capita tax levied by the gen- 
eral revenue laws of the state shall be collected by the 
county collector at the same time and place that the 
state taxes are collected, and be paid in the county 
treasury on or before the first day of July of each year, 
in the presence of the county court clerk, who shall 
make a record of the same as a revenue for the support 
of common schools {b). lb., sees, 31-2. 

Sec. 6939. In the payment of debts by executors 
and administrators, the debts due the common school 
fund shall have a preference over all other debts, except 
funeral and other expenses attending the last sickness. 

Sec. 6940. No justice of the peace, constable, 
clerk of a court or sheriff shall charge any costs in any 
suit where the collector or any other officer sues for 
the recovery of any money due to the common school 
fund, if the plaintiff in such cause is unsuccessful. Act 
January 11, 1853, sees. 50 and 55. 

ACT XXXIX. 

AN ACT to enforce the collection of such notes, 
claims and moneys as may be in possession of at- 
torneys under the appointment of the attorney 
general of this state, belonging to the funds aris- 
ing from the sale of the sixteenth section of lands. 

Section 

1. Commissioner of state lands to demand of attorneys 
settlement for funds collected from sale of six- 
teenth section land. 

(5.) The penalty collected for the non-payment of taxes on 
personal property is to be paid into the county school fund. See 
sec. 6589. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 13 

Section 

2. Attorneys to furnish commissioner of state lands with 

statement of notes and accounts in their possession. 

3. Attorneys faiUng to comply with act declared delin- 

quent. 

4. Failure of attorneys to comply with act to be reported 

to the attorney general. 

5. Attorney general to bring suit against attorneys. 

6. In case of death of attorney, attorney general to sue 

his estate. 

7. Attorney general to hire assistance. Fee fixed. 

8. Attorney general to institute suits on claims not col- 

lected by commissioner of state lands. 

9. Act takes effect from passage 

Be it enacted hy the General Assembly oj the State of 
Arkansas : 

Section 1. That it is hereby made the duty of the 
commissioner of state lands of this state immediately 
after the passage of this act, to make demand upon 
each attorney who may have been appointed to collect 
all claims and notes due the school fund arising from 
the sale of the sixteenth section lands, under an act of 
March 31, 1885, for such notes and claims which are 
now uncollected, and for such moneys as may have 
been collected by any attorney aforesaid, and not ac- 
counted for as shown by the records of said commis- 
sioner of state lands. 

Sec. 2. That it is hereby made the duty of each 
attorney heretofore appointed of each county in this 
state, when demand is made, as provided in section 
one of this act, make out and present a verified state- 
ment of all notes, claims, bonds or judgments still in 
his hands not collected, and transmit same to said com- 
missioner of state lands; said statement shall show 
what amount of money be in his hands, if any, which 
has been collected and not accounted for belonging to 
said fund ; 

Provided, That such money as may not have been 
accounted for, shall be paid by said attorney into the 
state treasury within sixty days after demand is made, 
taking triplicate receipts therefor, one of which shall be 
filed with the auditor of state, and one with the said 
commissioner of state lands ; 

Provided further , That for the purpose of enabling 
any attorney aforesaid and commissioner of state 
lands to settle, the treasurer of state, when required^ 



14 SCHOOL LAWS. 

shall render to the commissioner of state lands or to 
such attorney, or each of them, an itemized statement 
of the amount which may have been paid, receipt for 
which has not been filed as required by law and which 
may be lost, misplaced, or otherwise destroyed. 

Sec. 3. If any attorney shall fail or refuse to 
make out such verified statement, and transmit same 
as provided in this act, or shall fail or refuse to pay 
such moneys as herein provided, within the time men- 
tioned in this act, or should he fail or refuse to per- 
form any duty required of him in this act, he shall be 
declared and be considered a delinquent by said com- 
missioner of state lands. 

Sec. 4. In any case where any attorney shall fail 
to comply with any of the provisions of this act, it is 
hereby made the duty of the commissioner of state 
lands to report such delinquent attorneys to the attor- 
ney general of this state, together with a statement of 
the amount due from such delinquent attorney, either 
in notes, claims or bonds belonging to said fund, as 
shown by the records of his and the treasurer's office, 
and transmit sam« together with the receipt and bond 
of said attorney, taking his receipt therefor. 

Sec. 5. On receipt of said statement, receipt and 
bond of any delinquent attorney, by the attorney gen- 
eral of this state, it shall be, and is hereby made his 
duty to institute, or cause to be instituted, the neces- 
sary legal proceedings in the proper county against said 
delinquent attorney and his bondsmen, for such amount 
as may be due said fund from said delinquent attorney. 
Said attorney general shall be allowed to retain ten per 
centum of the amount so collected as commission, and 
the residue shall be by him paid over to the treasurer of 
state, which shall be placed by said treasurer to the 
credit of the county's sixteenth section school fund, to 
which said moneys rightfully belong, and the said 
treasurer of state, in each payment aforesaid, shall issue 
triplicate receipts, one of which shall be filed with the 
auditor of state, and one with the commissioner of 
state lands. 

Sec. 6. In case any attorney has died since his 
appointment without making settlement as provided in 
said act of March 31, 1885, it shall be the dutv of the 



SCHOOL LAWS. 15 

attorney general to proceed against his estate in the pro- 
per county, either in law or equity. 

Sec. 7. In order to facilitate the collection of said 
claims from any delinquent attorney aforesaid, the at- 
torney general may call to his assistance the prosecut- 
ing attorney of the proper county ; 

Provided, That not more than ten per centum of 
said fund shall be retained for the collection of any 
amount as provided in section five of this act. 

Sec. 8. Such notes and claims as may be col- 
lected by the commissioner of state lands from any de- 
linquent attorney, or from any other source, as pro- 
vided in this act, the said attorney general shall pro- 
ceed without unnecessary delay to collect the same in 
the manner and form as now provided under the act 
of March 31, 1885. 

Sec. 9. That this act take effect and be in force 
from and after its passage. * 

Approved March 8, 1897. 

ACT XLIX. 

AN ACT to provide for the payment of the interest 
due the common school and sixteenth section 
funds of Arkansas. 

Section 

1. One-fourth of one mill levied to pay interest on school 

funds. 

2. Amount collected to be applied to pay interest on 

bonds. 

3. State debt board to make payment in September of 

each year. 

4. Money paid on interest to be placed to credit of gen- 

eral school fund. 

5. First levy to be made in 1897, and annually thereafter. 

6. Unlawful to use money for any other purpose. 

7. Act takes effect from passage. 

Be it enacted hy the General Assembly of the State of 
Arkansas : 

Section 1. That a general tax of one quarter of 
one mill be levied annually for ten years on the taxable 
property of the state in the same manner as other 
taxes are levied and collected, for the purpose of pay- 
ing off the interest due on the common school and six- 



16 SCHOOL LAWS. 

teenth section fund of the state, now invested in Ar- 
kansas bonds of any nature. 

Sec. 2. That the amount annually collected in 
each county, by virtue of this levy, shall be paid into 
the state treasury by the collectors in the same manner 
as other taxes, and the treasurer shall set the same 
aside as a separate interest fund for redeeming the in- 
terest coupons and interest on the bonds belonging to 
the common school and sixteenth section fund. 

Sec. 3. That it shall be the duty of the state debt 
board to meet annually for ten years, on the second 
Monday of September, and they shall immediately 
proceed to pay off with the taxes aforesaid, in the 
order of their priority of date, the interest coupons, 
and the interest due on the permanent school and six- 
teenth section fund. 

Sec. 4. That the state treasurer thereupon shall 
place said interest money to the credit of the general 
school fund to be apportioned to the several counties in 
the state, with the annual pro rata distribution of 
school funds on the first Mondays in August and Feb- 
ruary of each year. 

Sec. 5. That the first levy of said one-quarter of 
one mill tax, for the purposes aforesaid, be made by 
the regular levying boards in every county at their 
regular legal meeting in 1897, and that said levy be 
made annually for ten years from July, 1897. 

Sec. 6. That it shall be unlawful to use the afore- 
said tax for any other purpose than for actually paying 
the interest of the common school and sixteenth sec- 
tion fund. 

Sec. 7. That this act shall take effect and be in 
force from and after its passage. 

Approved July 2, 1897. 

COMMISSIONERS OF SCHOOL FUND. 

Sec. 6941. The secretary of state, auditor and 
state superintendent of public instruction shall consti- 
tute a board of commissioners of the common school 
fund, and shall meet semi-annually at the office of said 
superintendent on the first Monday in February and on 
the first Monday in August in each year. Provided, 
The secretary of state may assemble the members of 
said board any time at his discretion. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 17 

Sec. 6942. The secretary of state shall be presi- 
dent of said board and shall sign the journal of each 
day's proceedings. Act of Dec. 7, 1S75, sees. 3-4, as 
amended hy act April 10, 1893. 

Sec. 6943. The superintendent of public instruc- 
tion shall act as secretary of the said board, and shall 
keep a faithful, correct record of the proceedings, and 
shall keep the said record open at all times for inspec- 
tion. A copy of said record, certified by the secretary 
of the board, shall be in all cases received as evidence 
equal with the original. 

Sec. 6944. The said board of school commission- 
ers shall have the management and investment ol the 
common school fund belonging to the state, and shall 
from time to time, as the same may accumulate, se- 
curely invest the said funds in bonds of the United 
States or the state of Arkansas. 

Sec. 6945. That all moneys required by law to be 
paid into the treasuiy to the credit of the common 
school fund may, if the same be not paid within thirty 
days after they shall have become due and payable, be 
recovered, with interest due thereon, by action in any 
court having jurisdiction; and such action shall ba 
prosecuted by the attorney general of the state, or by 
the prosecuting attorney of any judicial district within 
this state, when directed by the said board.* 

Sec. 6946. All moneys belonging or owing to the 
common school fund, as mentioned in section 6932, or 
accruing as revenues therefrom, together Avith the state 
school tax, shall be paid directly into the state treasury, 
and shall not be paid out except on the warrant of the 
auditor. Act Dec. 7, 1875, sees. 5-8. 

Sec. 6947. The state auditor shall be the account- 
ant of said board, and shall, annually, on the first Mon- 
day in October, transmit to the governor and to the 
superintendent of public instruction a report of the 
condition of the school fund on the first day of July 
last preceding, with an abstract of the accounts thereof 
in his office. 

Sec. 6948. The auditor shall, under the direction 
of the board of commissioners, draw warrants on the 

*See Orrv. State, 56-107. 

S— 2 



18 SCHOOL LAWS. 

state treasurer for the payment of all or any portion of 
the common school fund belonging to the state, for the 
purchase of bonds or other securities in which the same 
is by law invested. 

Sec. 6949. The state treasurer shall, by virtue of 
such warrant, pay from the uninvested common school 
fund the purchase money for said securities, and shall 
receive and deposit the same in the state treasury for 
safe-keeping, and receipt to the president of the board 
of commissioners for the kind and amount of such se- 
curities. 

Sec. 6950. The said board shall, at their semi-an- 
nual meeting, settle Avith the state treasurer all accounts 
of the common school fund not before settled. Ih., 
sees., 9-12. 

SUPERVISION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

Sec. 6951. The supervision of public schools, and 
the execution of the laws regulating the same, shall be 
vested in and confided to such officers as may be pro- 
vided for by the general assembly. Art. 14, sec. 4, 
Const. 

STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 

Sec. 6952. At the next general election, and every 
two years thereafter, there shall be elected a state sup- 
erintendent of public instruction, by the qualified elec- 
tors of this state, as state officers are now elected. 

Sec. 6953. Before entering upon the duties of his 
office, he shall take and subscribe the oath prescribed 
for officers by the constitution of this state, and shall 
file such oath with the secretary of state. 

Sec. 6954. The superintendent of public instruc- 
tion shall be charged with the general superintendence 
of the business relating to the free common schools of 
this state.* 

* A general power of charge and supervision of schools includes 
the power to make all reasonable rules and regulations for the dis- 
cipline, government and arrangements of schools. 5 Cush. {Mass.), 
298; 8 Cush. {Mass.'), 160; 22 All. (Mass.), 127; 105 Mass., 476; 
63 III., 353; 71 Mo., 628; 13 Brad., 520. 

As to what is a reasonable rule, see 63 III., 353; 48 Vt., 476, 
477 ; 31 Iowa, 565. 

It is in short, "Any rule of the school or system not subversive 
of the rights of the children or parents or in conflict with humanity 
and the precepts of divine Jaw which leads to advance the law in 
establishmg public schools." 



SCHOOL LAWS. 19 

Sec. 6955. He shall open at the seat of the state 
government (at the expense of the state) a suitable of- 
fice, in which he shall keep all books, reports, docu- 
ments and other papers pertaining to his department, 
and where he shall be in attendance when not neces- 
sarily absent on business, and have personal supervision 
of the business affairs of his office, and keep a clear and 
correct record thereof. 

Sec. 5956. He shall furnish suitable questions! 
for the examination of teachers to the county examiner ; 
he shall hold a teachers' institute annually in each ju- 
dicial district of the state, to be called a normal district 
institute ; he shall arrange the programme exercises for 
each of such institutes, and preside thereat. Frovided, 
It he should not be present, the teachers w^ho may have 
assembled may organize and hold such normal district 
institute. (See recent act of the legislature placed in 
the digest after sec. 6978.) * 

Sec. 6957. He shall prepare and transmit to the 
county examiners, school registers, blank certificates, 
reports and other printed blanks, together with other 
suitable blanks, forms and printed instructions, to be 
forwarded to directors and other school officers, as may 
be necessary to aid such officers in making their reports 
and carrying into full effect the various provisions of 
the school laws of this state. Act Dec. 7, 1875, sees. 
13-16. 

Sec. 6958. The superintendent of public instruc- 
tion shall prepare a form of poll books to be used by 
the directors of the various school districts of this state 
at their annual elections as are now, or may hereafter 
be provided by law, and have the same printed as other 
blanks for school purposes ; and shall transmit the same 
to the county examiner of each county for distribution 
to school directors in the same manner as other school 
blanks are now, or shall hereafter be distributed. Act 
March 2, 1887. 

Sec. 6959. He shall exercise such supervision 

t The state superintendent is the only one authorized to furnish 
questions for these examinations. The examinations held by ex- 
aminers at the close of a private school of their own, in which they 
have prepared the teachers to answer certain questions prepared 
by the examiner for the occasion, are not legal, and a licensa 
granted in this manner is void. 



20 SCHOOL LAWS. 

over the school funds as to ascertain the amount and 
disposal made of the same, their protection and safety 
when invested or deposited, and recommend measures 
for their security and preservation, and for renderings 
them most productive of revenue; shall enforce the 
strict application of the school revenues to the legiti- 
mate purposes for which they were intended, and shall, 
when directed by the commissioners of the school 
fund, cause to be instituted, in the name of the state of 
Arkansas, suits or actions for the recovery of any por- 
tion of the said funds of said revenues that may be 
squandered, illegally applied or unsafely deposited. 

Sec. 6960. He shall, on or before the first day of 
November in each year, prepare and submit to the gov- 
ernor of this state an annual report, in writing, show- 
ing the number of persons between the ages of six and 
twenty-one years residing in the state on the first day 
of the preceding July; the number of such persons in 
each county ; the number of each sex ; the number of 
white; the number of colored; the whole number of 
such persons that attended the free common schools of 
the state during the year ending the thirtieth day of 
the last preceding June, and the number in each county 
that attended during the same period; the number of 
whites of each sex that attended, and the number of 
colored of each sex that attended the said schools ; the 
number of common schools in the state ; the number of 
pupils that studied each of the branches taught; the 
average wages paid teachers of each sex; the relative 
average wages paid to male and female teachers respec- 
tively, according to the different grades of their certifi- 
cates ; the number of school houses erected during the 
year ; the material and cost thereof ; the number previ- 
ously erected, the material of which they were con- 
structed, their condition and value; the number with 
their grounds inclosed ; the counties in which teachers' 
institutes were held, and the number that attended the 
institutes in each county. 

Sec. 6961. He shall likewise report the amount of 
permanent school fund belonging to the state at the 
close of the fiscal school year, and the amount of other 
property apportioned to school purposes; the nature, 
kind and amount of such investments made of the 



SCHOOL LAWS. 21 

same ; the safety and permanency of such investments ; 
the amount of revenue accruing from the school funds ; 
the income received from the per capita assessments of 
each county, and. the amount derived from such assess- 
ment in all the counties of the state; the income de- 
rived from all other sources, together with the amount 
derived from each; likewise in what sums, for what 
purposes and in what manner the said school revenue 
shall have been expended, and what amount of school 
moneys of various kinds are in the various county 
treasuries unexpended. 

Sec. 6C62. He shall include in his report such 
plans as he may have matured for the improvement of 
the common school system of this state ; for the accum- 
ulation, the investment and the more judicious manage- 
ment of the common school fund, and, when he may 
deem it advisable, shall recommend measures %f or a 
more economical and advantageous collection and ex- 
penditure of the revenues accruing from the said fund ; 
and whenever it comes to his knowledge that any of 
the investments of the school funds are not safe, or 
that any portion of the said fund is liable to be lost, 
that it is unproductive of revenue, or that any of the 
school revenues have been diverted from their proper 
channel or from the appropriate objects contemplated, 
he shall report the facts to the governor and to the gen- 
eral assembly, if in session. 

Sec. 6963. He shall also append to his report a 
statistical table, compiled from the materials trans- 
mitted to his office by school officers, with proper sum- 
maries, averages and totals given. 

Sec. 6964. He shall present such a comparison of 
results, and such an exhibit of his administration, and 
of the operation of the common free school system, to- 
gether with such statements of the true condition of 
the schools of the state, as shall distinctly show the 
improvements and progress made from year to year in 
the department of public instruction. 

Sec. 6965. The annual reports of the state super- 
intendent to the governor shall be transmitted by the 
governor to the general assembly at the opening of 
the session. 

Sec. 6966. He shall have his reports to the gov- 



22 SCHOOL LAWS. 

ernor published as soon as practicable after they have 
been made, and shall cause them to be distributed 
among the various school officers of the state, to be kept 
on file in their respective offices. Provided^ He shall 
not have more than five thousand copies of such reports 
printed for any one year, the printing of such reports 
to be let out as other contracts for printing. Act Dec. 
7, 1875, sees. 16-23. 

Sec. 6967. He shall on the first Monday of Aug- 
ust and on the first Monday of February of each year, 
make a pro rata apportionment to the several counties 
of the state of the remaining revenues in the state 
treasury available for distribution for school purposes, 
on the basis of the number of persons between the ages 
of six and twenty-one years, residing in said county, 
respectively, on the first day of September previous; 
and he shall publish a statement of the same, and as 
early as practicable, shall transmit a copy thereof to 
each county examiner and to each of the several treas- 
urers in the state, and to each county clerk, who shall 
submit the same to the county court at its next term ; 
and he shall thereupon draw his requisition on the 
state auditor in favor of the treasurers of the several 
counties for such amount as the said counties may be 
entitled to receive for the support of free common 
schools. Act oj March 20, 1891. 

Sec. 6968. He shall, from time to time, publish 
in convenient pamphlet form, and furnish each school 
officer, the acts of the general assembly relating to com- 
mon schools, and the decisions of the courts having 
competent jurisdiction in relation to the school laws; 
and he shall likewise, at the request of any school offi- 
cer, render a decision relating to the intent, construc- 
tion or administration of any portion of the school laws 
on which decisions shall not have been published, and 
he may, when he shall deem it advisable to have the 
opinion of the attorney general, require said opinion to 
be in writing(«). 

(a). It is the sole duty of the superintendent of public instruc- 
tion to render decisions relating to the intent, construction or ad- 
ministration of any portion of the school laws. The attorney gen- 
eral is the legal adviser of the superintendent and not of school of- 
ficers. 



SCHOOL LAWS. . 23 

Sec. 6969. He shall, for the purpose of ascertain- 
ing the amounts, safety and preservation of the school 
funds, have access to the auditor's books and papers, 
with full power to use and inspect the same. 

Sec. 6970. At tlie expiration of his term of office 
he shall deliver to his successor possession of his office, 
together with all books, records, documents, papers and 
other articles belonging or pertaining to his office.. 

Sec. 6971 . He shall affix the seal of the depart- 
ment of public instruction to all official communica- 
tions from his office. 

Sec. 6972. Whenever a vacancy in the office of 
superintendent of public instruction shall occur, from 
death, resignation or otherwise, the governor shall ap- 
point a person of suitable attainments to seive the re- 
mainder of the unexpired term. Provided, Such va- 
cancy shall occur within nine months from tjie next 
succeeding election ; otherwise, an election shall be or- 
dered, as in case of state officers. 

Sec. 6973. Neither the state superintendent nor 
county examiner shall act as agent for any author, pub- 
lisher or bookseller, nor directly or indirectly receive 
any gift, emolument, reward or promise of reward for 
his influence in recommending or procuring the use of 
any book, school apparatus or furniture of any kind 
whatever, in any public school ; and any school officer 
who shall violate the provisions of this section shall be 
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and subject to re- 
moval from office. Act. Dec. 7, 1875, sees. 25-30. 

Sec. 6974. The state superintendent of public in- 
struction shall have power to grant state certificates, 
which shall be valid for life, unless revoked, to any per- 
son in the state who shall pass a thorough examination 
in all those branches required for granting county cer- 
tificates; and, also, in algebra and geometry, physics, 
rhetoric, mental philosophy, history, Latin, the consti- 
tutions of the United States and of the state of Arkan- 
sas, natural history and theory and art of teaching. 

state license can noti be granted without an examination. No 
provision is made whereby a college diploma or the diploma of a 
normal school becomes the equivalent for a state license. There is 
no legal method whereby a state license may be secured save by an 
examination. These examinations are public and conducted at the 
office of the state superintendent. 



24 SCHOOL LAWS. 

The law does not fix a minimum age nor require experience. 
But it was never the intent of the legislature to put immature and 
inexperienced boys and girls in charge of schools, much less give 
them a life license. In all other departments of the law, minors are 
called infants, and made subject to disabilities and to the control of 
parents and guardians. Maturity of mind and strength of character 
are requisite for the successful determination and management of 
the important questions arising in school life. Apphcants for state 
license must be of legal age and have a successful experience of at 
least twenty months in the schoolroom, l^he oral and written 
methods are combined in the examination. 

The oral is adapted to disclose — 

1. Skill in expedients. 

2. Aptness in illustration. 

3. Manner of expression, etc. 
The written is expected to show — 

1. Habits of thinking. 

2. Modes of reasoning. 

3. Discipline of the mind. 

4. Accuracy. 

5. Acquaintance with principles. 

6. Availability of knowledge. 

7. Knowledge itself. 

Sec. 6975. He shall prepare, for the benefit of 
the common schools of the state, a list of such text 
books on orthography, reading in English, mental and 
written arithmetic, penmanship, English grammar, 
modern geography and history of the United States as 
are best adapted to the wants of the learner, and as 
have been prepared with reference to the most philoso- 
phical methods of teaching those branches, and shall 
recommend the said text books to teachers and to di- 
rectors throughout the state. 

The following are deducted from an opinion of the attorney 
general: 

1. That the list is to be determined by the state superinten- 
dent. 

2. That the directors in adopting books are limited to the list. 

3. That books not upon the list cannot be required in any 
school of the state supported by public funds. 

Sec. 6976. He shall procure and adopt a seal for 
his office, and furnish an impression and description of 
said seal to the secretary of the state, to be preserved 
in his office. 

Sec. 6977. A copy of any paper or document de- 
posited or filed in the office of the superintendent of 
public instruction shall, when authenticated by the 
said seal, be evidence equal, to all intents and purposes, 
with the original. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 25 

Sec. 6978. The said superintendent shall prepare 
appropriate forms for three several grades of certifi- 
cates to be issued to teachers by the county examiners. 
He shall prepare suitable school registers, in which 
teachers, at the close of the school term, are to 
make their reports to the trustees of the name and age 
of each pupil, the date of each pupil's entrance, the 
separate days on which each attended school, the 
studies each pursued, the total attendance; and shall 
likewise prepare suitable forms for the reports of direc- 
tors and county examiners. Act Dec. 7, 1875, sees. 
33-37. 

This register must be kept by each public school teacher ac- 
cording to the forms prescribed, before any charge can be made 
for services. 

By a subsequent act the superintendent is required to furnish 
poll-books for the school districts. 

% 
COUNTY NOEMAL INSTITUTES. 

Be it enacted hy the Geueral Assembly of the State of 

Arkansas : 

Section 1. That the state superintendent of pub- 
lic instruction is hereby authorized and empowered to 
arrange for the establishment of county normal insti- 
tutes for the white teachers of Arkansas, or for such 
white persons as desire to become teachers in the pub- 
lic schools of this state, and such additional ones for 
the colored teachers at such places as may be selected 
by the saperintendent. 

Sec. 2. The said superintendent shall select a 
principal for each normal institute, arrange a pro- 
gramme for its daily work, and formulate such rules 
and regulations therefor as shall best conduce to the 
interests of the institute and to the faithful execution 
of this law. The course of study shall comprise a 
thorough drill upon the principles of the common 
school branches, history and constitution of Arkansas, 
and such pedagogical instruction as shall fully develop 
the teachers' professional, general, moral and social 
preparation for work in the public schools ; special at- 
tention shall be given to organization, arrangement of 
pupils, use of text books, classification, programmes, 
use of school devices and apparatus, discipline, punish- 



26 SCHOOL LAWS. 

ment and the purposes of punishment, also upon the 
different methods of presenting the different subjects to 
be taught in the schools, having more direct reference 
to the rural than to the town schools. 

Sec. 3. Each of said schools shall last for a con- 
secutive term of twenty days each, of each year, at such 
time and place as may be agreed upon by the state su- 
perintendent and county examiner. Other pupils of 
suitable age and advancement maybe admitted to these 
institutes at the discretion of the state superintendent 
and instructor. 

Sec. 4. For the purpose of carrying this law into 
effect, the sum of ten thousand dollars per annum for 
the next two years, is hereby appropriated out of any 
moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated; 
Provided, That an itemized bill shall be presented by 
each instructor employed in these institutes, together 
with a certificate from the superintendent of public in- 
struction, to the auditor of state, who shall thereupon 
draw his warrant for the same ; Provided, further. That' 
no part of this appropriation shall be used for any pur- 
pose other than the payment of instructors. 

Sec. 5. That all persons holding county certifi- 
cates to teach in the public schools of Arkansas are re- 
quired to attend said normals the full time under 
penalty of a forfeiture of license which may be restored 
only by re-examination ; Provided, That the instructor 
may for good and sufficient reasons, by and with the 
consent of the county examiner, excuse any teacher 
from such attendance. 

Sec. 6. This law shall take effect from and after 
its passage. 

Approved March 16, 1897. 

Though this law does not repeal the district normal law, there 
is no provision made for carrying it into effect, and it is now a use- 
less statute. 

SCHOOL DISTRICTS. 

Be it enacted hy the General Assembly of the State of 
Arkansas : 

Section 1. The county courts of this state shall 
have power to dissolve any school district now estab- 
lished, or which may hereafter be established in its 



SCHOOL LAWS. 27 

county and attach the territory thereof in whole or in 
part to an adjoining district or districts, whenever a 
majority of the electors residing in such district shall 
petition the court so to do. 

Sec. 2. When such dissolution is proposed, no- 
tice shall be given by those proposing the same by 
posters in four public places in the district. Said no- 
tices to be posted thirty days before the meeting of the 
term of the court at which such petition is proposed to 
be presented. 

Sec. 3. Whenever, under this act, any district 
shall be abolished, any indebtedness due by it, or funds 
on hand to its credit shall be proportioned by the court 
among the districts to which its territory has been at- 
tached, according to the value of the territory each re- 
ceived, of which action of dissolution and distribution 
of indebtedness or funds, as the case may be, th^ clerk 
of the court shall give due notice to directors of each 
district affected, showing the territory attached to their 
district, and amount of indebtedness adjudged against 
it, or funds credited to it, as the case may be. 

Sec. 4. The directors of the district dissolved, 
upon receipt of notice of clerk, shall transmit, without 
delay, all of the records of said district to the county 
examiner of the county for preservation in his office. 

Sec. 5. That section 6984 of Sandels & Hill's Di- 
gest be and the same is hereby repealed. 

Sec. 6. All laws in conflict herewith are hereby 
repealed, and this act take effect and be in force from 
and after its passage. 

Approved April 1, 1895. 

Sec. 6985. When a change is proposed in any 
school district notice shall be given by the parties pro- 
posing the change, by putting up hand bills in four or 
more conspicuous places in each district to be affected, 
one of said notices to be placed on the public school 
building in each affected district. All of said notices 
to be posted thirty days before the convening of the 
court to which they propose to present their petition ; 
said notices shall give a geographical description of the 
proposed change. Act of April 1, 1891. 

Sec. 6986. Each school district shall be a body 
corporate, by the name and style of ''School District 



28 SCHOOL LAWS. 

No. , of the county of ;" and by such name 

may contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, 
in any of the courts of this state having competent jur- 
isdlction(<i). 

Sec. 6987. Every district shall hold in the corpo- 
rate name of the district the title of lands and other 
property which may be acquired by said district for 
school district purposes. Act Dec. 7, 1875, sec. 53. 

Sec. 6988. No new school district shall be formed 
having less than thirty-five persons of scholastic age re- 
siding within the territory included in such new dis- 
trict, and no district now formed, shall by the forma- 
tion of a new district or transfer be reduced to less 
than thirty-five persons of scholastic age. Act April 8, 
1887, sec. 2. See sec. 7062. 

Sec 6989. The county court shall have the right 
to form new school districts or change the boundaries 
thereof, upon a petition of a majority of all the electors 
residing upon the territory of the districts to be di- 
vided(e). 

Sec. 6990. Such territory shall have the requisite 
number of children or property to comply with the 
now existing law in such case. 

Sec. 6991. In the formation of new school dis- 
tricts that part of territory taken off from the old dis- 
trict or districts, shall be held liable for a proportionate 
part of the indebtedness of the former district or dis- 
tricts at the time of the making of said new district. 

Sec. 6992. In case there be a surplus fund on 
hand at the time of the formation of said district, it 
shall be entitled to a proportionate part of said fund, 

(cZ.) School districts are not liable for trespass committed by 
their officers. 

School District No. 11 v. Williams, 38-454. 
See School District v. Bodenhamer, 48-140; School Dis- 
trict V. Retve, 56-68. 
Mandamus can only be used after judgment against a school 
district to force the payment of debt. 

School District v. Bodenhamer, 4,3-140. 
School property is not subject to the tax, and suit therefore, for 
local improvements of a public nature. 

Board v. School District, 56-354. 

(e.) This section contemplates a petition by a majority of the 
electors of all the districts combined, and not a majority of the 
electors of each district separately. 

Hudspeth v. Wallis, 54-134. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 29 

the same to be ascertained and determined by the 
county court of the county in which said new district 
may be created, as in the judgment of said court may 
be considered right and proper. Act April 8, 1887, 
sec. 3. 

APPOETIONMENT OF SCHOOL FUNDS. 

Sec. 6993. The county court, immediately on re- 
ceiving notice of the distributive share of school revenue 
apportioned by the state superintendent to each county, 
shall proceed to apportion to the several school districts 
of the county, in proportion to the number of persons 
between the age of six and twenty-one years residing 
within the school districts, respectively, on the first 
Monday of July previous, the said school revenue ap- 
portioned to the county, and shall forward to the county 
treasurer, and to each of the directors of each district, 
a statement of such apportionment, carefully distin- 
guishing the sources from which the school revenues so 
apportioned are derived, and the amount due each 
school district in the county from each separate source, 
and shall see that the revenues from the public school 
fund are invariably paid to the county and to the 
school districts strictly in accordance with the appor- 
tionment made to them(/). 

In the ease of J. C. Merritt et al. v. J. H. Merritt, County Judge, 
appealed from Arkansas county, the supreme court, m May, 1891, 
held: 

*'It was the duty of appellant, as county judge, on receiving no- 
tice oi the amount apportioned to the county, to proceed to appro- 
priate the same to the several districts upon whose enumeration 
the superintendent made the apportionment. The duty was abso- 
lute, and in its performance the county judge had no discretion. 
There is no reason why a district should be kept out of its funds, 
for any length of time, on account of county lines, and it is the duty 
of the county judge to prevent it. If he fails to do his dutj^, its per- 
formance should be coerced." 

This case clearly establishes the following principles: 

1. The county judge must apportion common school funds 
upon the enumeration of the apportionment as made by the super- 
intendent and upon no other. He has no right to change the enum- 
eration and apportionment. He simply appropriates to each dis- 
trict the amount apportioned by the state superintendent. 

2. This must be done without delay and despite changes in 
county lines. 

(/.) Apportionment may be compelled by mandamus, and the 
parents of children of scholastic age are proper parties to petition 
therefor. 

Mattox V. Neal, 45-121. 



80 SCHOOL LAWS. 

3. Duties are absolute and contain no element of discretion. 
This principal applies to every school officer and teacher. 

In view of this decision and in the change of time for making 
the state apportionments, I suggest that the county judge hold an 
adjourned term during the fourth week in August for the appropria- 
tion to districts of the funds apportioned on the first Monday in 
August. 

The poll tax has been distributed heretofore in two ways: 

1. The amount of the per capita tax collected in each district 
of the county has been apportioned to the district in proportion to 
their educable children. 

2. The whole amount collected in the county has been appor- 
tioned to the district in proportion to their educable children. 

The latter is the proper method. The per capita tax is for the 
common schools of the county and should be apportioned upon the 
basis of educable children therein and cot upon a narrow basis. 

The following, as to the rights of the district over the funds 
after apportionment, are deduced from an opinion of the attorney 
general : 

1. That the funds derived from the state, and from the per 
capita tax, and from the tax voted by the district at the annual 
school meeting, after they reach the county treasury and are ap- 
portioned by the county court to the school district, become the 
absolute property of such district for the purpose of maintaining 
public schools therein, subject to disbursement on the warrant of 
the board of directors of a separate school district. 

2. That in other than separate school districts, the school di- 
rectors may apply such funds to no other purpose than those di- 
rected by a majority of the electors of the district at their annual 
school meeting. 

3. That in other than separate school districts, the electors 
may, at their annual meeting, fix a site for a school house, or 
raise money for building or purchasing a school house ; Provided, 
The directors have given notice that these matters were to be sub- 
mitted for consideration and action, as required by section 69 of the 
school law of December 7, 1875. 

4. That it is within the power of the board of directors of 
separate school districts to apply any part of the fund belonging to 
such district, which has not been otherwise appropriated to the 
purpose of building and purchasing a school house irrespective of 
the source from which such fund came, but that such power cannot 
be exercised by the directors of other school districts, unless they 
have been authorized to do so by the electors of the district at an 
annual school meeting. See — 

School Act of December 7, 1875. 
Lee V. Trustees of School District No. 36. 
New Jersey Equity Reports, 581. 
Mansfield'' s Digest, chapter 135. 

Sec. 6994. Whenever a new district shall have 
been formed and organized, the court shall, at the 
next apportionment made thereafter, apportion to the 
new district, school revenues in proportion to the nnm-. 
ber of persons between the ages of six and twenty-one 
years reported by the directors of the new district; 
Provided always, The number of persons between the 
ages of six and twenty-one years reported in any year 



SCHOOL LAWS. 31 

by the district electors of each county shall be taken as 
the quota of that county, and the number reported 
from each school district shall be taken as the quota of 
that district, and that the only basis on which an ap- 
portionment of the school revenue shall be made is to 
be the number of persons so reported each year by the 
district directors. Act Dec. 7, 1875, sees. 40-41. 

Sec. 6995. The county examiners of the several 
counties shall, annually, between the tenth and twen- 
tieth days of September, transmit, verified by affidavit, 
to the county clerks of their respective counties a 
written report, showing' the number of persons between 
the ages of six and twenty-one years residing in each 
school district in their respective counties, as shown by 
the reports of the district directors made for the same 
year to the county examiners, as is now required by 
law. ^ 

Sec. 6996, The county clerks shall, during the 
first terms of their respective county courts held after 
the reception of the reports provided for in the preced- 
ing section, lay such reports before such county courts, 
to be used as a guide in making the apportionment of 
the general school fund to the various school districts. 
Act March 23, 1891. 

Sec. 6997. Any county which, by a change of 
county lines, or by the formation of a new county or 
counties, shall fail to receive the school funds which 
justly should be apportioned to it, from the fact of its 
school population being reckoned with that of the 
county or counties to which the said funds may be ap- 
portioned, shall be reimbursed for the loss thus in- 
curred. Said loss shall be corrected in the first appor- 
tionment of the school revenue thereafter. Provided, 
If such correction be not made in the first apportion- 
ment thereafter, it may be made in the second(/7). 

Sec 6998. The amounts refunded according to 
the provisions of section 6997 shall be deducted from 
the funds apportioned to the counties which were the 
original recipients of the erroneously apportioned rev- 
enues. 

(g.) See Merritt v. School District, 54-468. 

Mandamus will lie to compell apportionment as herein pro- 
vided. Ih. 



32 SCHOOL LAWS. 

Sec. 6999. Upon the presentation of the certifi- 
cate of the superintendent of public instruction of the 
amount or amounts due any county, by the provisions 
of this act, to the auditor, he shall draw his warrant on 
the state treasurer for said amount or amounts in favor 
of the treasurer of said county for the benefit of the 
school fund and in compliance with section 6997. Act 
March 6, 1877. 

COUNTY EXAMINEES. 

Sec. 7000. The county court of each county shall, 
at the first term thereof after each general election, ap- 
point in each county, not divided into two judicial dis- 
tricts, one county examiner, and in each county divided 
into two judicial districts may appoint one county ex- 
aminer for each district, such examiner to be of high 
moral character and scholastic attainments. Act Bee. 
7, 1875, sec. 42, as amended hy sec. 1, act March 20, 
1883. and act March 7, 1893. 

The county examiner is one of the most important officers of 
the schools. He is the sentinel placed by law on the ramparts of 
the system. If he is capable, honest and zealous the school sys- 
tem will grow stronger in each county. The law does not require 
mere moral character and mere scholastic attainment. It demands: 

1. H gh moral character. 

2. High scholastic attainments. 

Nj one should be appointed to this office under any circum- 
stances who is addicted in the least degree to profanity, drunken- 
ness, gambling, licentiousness or any other demoralizing vice, or 
who does not believe in the existence of a Supreme Being. Teach- 
ers are not to be licensed if they have these vices, and what is for- 
bidden to the examinee is emphatically denied to the examiner. It 
is a safe plan to require total abstinence in all these enumerated 
particulars. 

As to scholastic ability the very best man in this respect should 
be obtained. He who is to sit in judgment upon others should be a 
judge. An Ignorant examiner is a disgrace to the judge who ap- 
pointed him and a degradation to the county. 

1. The examiner must have the qualifications of an elector. 
He is an officer of the state^being a part of the executive depart- 
ment of the state. A woman may not be appointed to this position. 

In Elmore v. Overton, 104 Ind., 548, the learned judge held: 
"The office of county superintendent belongs to the executive 
department of the state, and the statute does not confer upon the 
incumbent either judicial or quasi judicial power in the matter of 
licensing persons to teach in the common schools." 

2. Every applicant for the position of examiner who is a 
teacher should present as evidences of his scholastic qualification 
either a license from the state superintendent or a first grade license 
from a competent examiner. There is no one to examine him ex- 
cept the state superintendent, and he can not license himself. Un- 
less licensed by the state superintendent there is no way by which 



SCHOOL LAWS. 33 

this oflBcer may obtain a license to teach. No second or third grade 
teacher can measure up to the requirements of the statute which 
requires "high scholastic attainment." 

3. Every applicant who is not a teacher should be required to 
show his qualifications by either a diploma from a first-class school 
or a license from some first-class examiner. 

4. No apportionments of any kind should be made as a politi- 
cal reward or from denominational considerations. No one should 
be appointed who cannot give his time to the work. 

The act passed March 7, 1893, amends the preceding section in 
several important particulars. 

Sec. 7001. Any appointments heretofore made by 
the county courts for the districts of sucli counties as 
are mentioned in the preceding section in which an ex- 
aminer has been appointed for each district are hereby 
declared to be legal and valid appointments. Act 
March 20, 188S, sec. 2. 

Sec. 7002. Before entering upon the duties of 
that office, the county examiner shall take and subscribe 
the oath prescribed for officers by the constitution of 
this state, and file such oath in the office of the county 
clerk. Act March 7, 1875, sec. 43. 

Sec. 7003. All county examiners shall be required, 
before entering upon the duties of their office, to stand 
the same examination as is required of the teachers who 
receive first grade licenses. 

Sec. 7004. No one shall fill the offices of county 
examiner and school director at the same time. 

Sec. 7005. The clerk of the county court in each 
county shall notify the superintendent of public in- 
struction of the appointment of the county examiner in 
his county immediately upon his appointment, together 
with his name and address. 

Sec. 7006. The superintendent of public instruc- 
tion shall either attend in person or appoint some one 
duly qualified to examine such person appointed as 
county examiner, as to his qualifications, using the 
same questions as are then being used in the examina- 
tion of teachers applying for first grade license. 

Sec. 7007. All county examiners shall be paid 
such salary each year as may be fixed by the county 
judge of the county for which he was appointed, out of 
the school fund of such county; Provided, Such salary 
shall not be greater than the amount received by the 

s— 3 



34 SCHOOL LAWS. 

county treasurer from the tax imposed in the following 
section. 

Sec. 7008. No county examiner shall examine any 
one applying to him for license as a teacher until he 
shall present a receipt from the county treasurer for 
two dollars paid by him to such treasurer to go to the 
credit of the county school fund. Act March 7, 1893, 
sees. 1-4. 

1. Every examiner appointed after March 7, 1893, must hold a 
license granted by the state superintendent of public instruction. 
These licenses are of two kinds, the regular state license and the 
examiners' license. This last instrument is based upon an examina- 
tion equivalent to that upon which a first grade certificate is based, 
and is good for two years. 

2. The office of examiner and school directors are made incom- 
patible. 

3. The examiner's fee must be paid to the county treasurer 
and not to the examiner. He should refuse to accept the fee at any 
time other than on the regular examination days, the third Thurs- 
day and Friday in June, September, December and March. The ir- 
regular days and times adopted by examiners in defiance of law 
and of the agreement of examiners is working great evil to the sys- 
tem. Some examiners set their days for public examinations a 
short time before the regular examination days and advertise it. 
Teachers from surrounding counties travel to the early examination, 
secure the questions and then take the regular examination in their 
home counties. This is wrong. The examiner has no right to 
change the dates of the examination. The duty is a public one and 
there are mutual duties and responsibilities. Each examiner owes 
his neighbor good faith and he is derelict when he subjects their 
honest labor to violence. County treasurers should refuse to be 
paities to the wrong. If the applicant comes at an irregular time, 
he should present a statement from the examiner that the exami- 
nation is a private one and that the applicant has a lawful excuse 
for non-attendance upon the public examination. 

4. The intention of the statute was to fix the salary of the ex- 
aminer at an amount equal to the amount paid in by the applicants 
for certificates, less the treasurers' commissions. It was never in- 
tended to reduce the miserable pittance already paid these officers 
beyond this commission. 

5. This law does not repeal the law passed March 3, 1887, sec. 
7025 of the digest, and which authorizes the county court to make 
an allowance to the examiner for express charges, postage, etc. 
This amount is twenty-five dollars and is an expense account, and 
no part of the salary. This amount, twenty-five dollars, is exclu- 
sive of the ten dollars allowed by the same act for making a report 
to the state superintendent. By any fair construction the act 
authorized not only an amount for postage, etc., but an additional 
amount for the report. The first could not exceed twenty-five dol- 
lars, but was not connected with the latter allowance. 

Any fee greater than two dollars is illegal. This fee is the same 
for either public or private examination and is to be paid for the 
examination and not for the certificate. It should be paid before 
the examination begins to the county treasurer and a receipt taken. 

The examination must be quarterly and public. The dates 
fixed for these quarterly examinations are the third Thursday and 



SCHOOL LAWS. 35 

Friday of March, June, September and December. The written 
questions are furnished by the state superintendent and are uni- 
form throughout the state. The regulations as to grading of certi- 
ficates are furnished to each examiner with the questions. He is 
positively forbidden to grant certificates without examination, or 
upon a partial examination, or to any one who does not reach the 
standards adopted by the law. The examination should be held at 
the school house and never in a court house. The county court 
should arrange for the regular use of a room in the school building. 

The examiner must attend these examinations in person. He 
must examine upon all the branches. He can only examine at the 
time and place appointed. He must convince himself by evidence 
if the applicants are not known to him that they are of good moral 
character. He must exclude every person who is given to profanity, 
drunkenness, gambling, licentiousness or other demoralizing vices. 
Such vices may be a refusal to obey the law as to institute work or 
regular examination work. A positive refusal upon the part of an 
applicant or one holding a license to obey the school law should ex- 
clude him or take from him his license. Obedience to law is the 
first mark of a true t ^acher, and no one may claim privileges under 
it who refuses to obey it. He should ascertain by direct question 
the belief of every person as to the Supreme Being. The words 
"who is given to," mean either "habitual" or "habitual wheiAop- 
portunity affords . " It require no nice distinction to avoid extremes 
at this juncture. If the applicant is given to these things so as to 
raise a question of doubt in the mind of the examiner, the applicant 
should be excluded. The doubt must be resolved in favor of the 
schools and not in favor of the applicants. He must show a posi- 
tive moral character, one emphatically marked by the absence of 
these vices and cannot rely upon the ordinary presumptions of in- 
nocence. He must show himself clear or be excluded from the 
state's schools. 

He must ascertain from the examination of each applicant un- 
der the regulations of the superintendent of public instruction not 
only scholarship, but competency to teach. And not only a bare 
competence, but a competence to teach successfully. And if the 
examiner is not qualified to pass upon this question he should re- 
sign his office. Every certificate granted to one who is unworthy, 
either mentally or morally, to receive it, is not only violation of 
law, but is a direct blow at the heart of our common schools. Such 
a certificate is an official license, not to elevate and bless, but to in- 
jure and degrade, and it may be to contaminate and curse the 
schools and the community. Good schools can not be taught by 
incompetent teachers; the moral atmosphere of the schools can not 
be kept pure by profane and irreverent teachers. A poor school 
may be a great deal worse than no school, and the state desires 
good teachers or none. There is no provision made in the economy 
of the school system for the absolutely incompetent teacher. Ex- 
aminers should strike down smatterers and pretenders whenever 
they present themselves, no matter what may be their position in 
society or standing among men. They should strive to show direc- 
tors and patrons that these poor teachers: 

1. Plant habits of study which are hard to eradicate. 

2. Inculcate carelessness and inattention, two fundamental 
educational sins. 

3. Plant false ideas of facts and principles. 

The examiner should carefully study the standard adopted by 
the state superintendent and conform thereto. This is in conjunc- 



36 SCHOOL LAWS. 

tion with the one adopted by the exammer should form an invari- 
able rule of practice in the issuance of certificates. 

The state superintendent furnishes the written questions, but 
the examiner should supplement these by oral questions. 

The oral method discloses : 

(a.) Methods of teaching. 

(b.) Skill and expedients. 

(c.) Aptness in illustration. 

(d.) Rapidity of thought. 

The written plan shows : 

(a.) Habits of thinking. 

(b.) Modes of reasoning. 

(c.) Proofs of discipline. 

(d.) Accuracy. 

(e.) Acquaintance of principles. 

(f.) Availability of knowledge. 

The time to be given to each branch is suggested upon each ex- 
amination sheet. 

Sec. 7009. It shall be the duty of such exammer 
to examine and license teachers of common schools. 
He shall hold, quarterly, at the county seat of each 
county, in a suitable room to be provided by the county 
court, a public examination for that purpose, and shall, 
previous to holding such examination, give at least 
twenty days' notice thereof to the directors of each 
school district within the county, whose duty it shall be 
to file the original notice in their office, and post, with- 
out delay, copies of said notice in three or more of the 
most conspicuous places within their district. He shall 
conduct all examinations by written and oral questions 
and answers, but shall grant no certificates of qualifica- 
tions except in accordance with the provisions of law 
respecting teachers' certificates. Act Dec. 7, 1875, sec. 
44, as amended hy act March 7, 1893, sec. 3. See sec. 
6956. 

Sec. 7010. He shall at the time and places ap- 
pointed for holding public examinations, examine in 
orthography, reading, penmanship, mental and written 
arithmetic, English grammer, modern geography, his- 
tory of the United States, and in the theory and prac- 
tice of teaching, and physiology and hygiene. 

Sec. 7011. All persons present and applying for 
an examination, with the intention of teaching, the ex- 
aminer, if convinced that such persons are of good 
moral character and are competent to teach successfully 
the foregoing branches, shall give such persons certifi- 
cates, ranking in grades to correspond with the relative 



SCHOOL LAWS. 37 

qualifications of the applicants, according to the stand- 
ard adopted. 

Sec. 7012. He shall not license any person to 
teach who is given to profanity, drunkenness, gambling, 
licentiousness or other demoralizing vices, or who does 
not believe in the existence of a Supreme Being; or 
shall he be required to grant private examinations. 

Sec. 7013. He may cite to re-examine any person 
holding a license and under contract to teach any free 
school within his county, and on being satisfied by a re- 
examination, or by other means, that such person does 
not sustain a good moral character, or that he has not 
sufficient learning and ability to render him a compe- 
tent teacher, he may, for these and other adequate 
causes, revoke the license of such person. 

Re -EXAMINATION. Every examiner is required to cite for re- 
examination any person under contract to teach who does not sus- 
tain a good moral character, or who has not sufficient leading or 
ability to make him a competent teacher. He may ascertain the in- 
competency to teach by other means than re -examination. He 
may visit the schools, he may hear the directors or he may hear the 
parties. In all such cases, he must deal fairly, but if he is fully sat- 
isfied, he must revoke the license. 

The statute permits a revocation for other than "immoral 
character" and "mental incompetency." The words of the statute 
are "for these and other adequate causes." The other adequate 
causes are numerous: 

(a.) Refusal to conform to the law of the regulations of the 
state superintendent. 

(b.) Refusal to conform to the regulations of directors or of 
the county examiner. 

(c.) Refusal to obey the law as to institutes or examinations. 

In all cases of this kind the teacher should have due notice and 
a fair hearing. 

Sec. 7014. In case of such revocation, he shall 
immediately give notice thereof to such teacher and the 
directors, and thereby terminate the contract between 
the said parties, but the wages of such teacher shall be 
paid for the time he shall have actually taught prior to 
the day on which he received notice of the revocation 
of his license (/O. Act Aprilld, 1893. 

Sec. 7015. In addition to the branches now pre- 
scribed by law to be taught in the common schools of 
the state, it is made the duty of the county examiners of 
the several counties of this state to examine all persons 

(h.) The power given the examiner to revoke license under 
these sections is not exclusive of the right of board of directors to 
terminate a contract for gross immorality and incompetency. School 
District v. Maury, 5S-471. 



38 SCHOOL LAWS. 

applying for examination and license to teach in such 
schools as to their knowledge and proficiency in the 
method of designating and reading the survey of the 
lands of this state by ranges, townships and sections, 
and parts of sections, as surveyed, platted and desig- 
nated by the government of the United States, and no 
such applicant shall be authorized or licensed to teach 
in any such school unless found upon examination pro- 
ficient in the method of designating and reading land 
surveys, as in this act provided. 

Sec. 7016. It is made the duty and especially im- 
posed upon all persons teaching in the public schools 
to teach and impart the instructions here provided for, 
whenever practicable to do so, and a wilful neglect or 
failure to discharge the duties by this act imposed, shall 
be deemed sufficient cause for the revocation of license 
to teach. Act February 16, 1893. 

Sec, 7017. He shall issue three grades of certifi- 
cates, to be styled respectively, certificates of the first, 
and of the second and of the third grades. Certificates 
of the first grade shall be valid in the county for which 
they were issued, for two years. Those of the second 
grade shall be valid in the county for which they were 
issued, for one year. Those of the third grade shall be 
valid in the county, six months. But he shall not re- 
new any certificate or grant a license without an exami- 
nation of the applicant with reference thereto. 

No certificate can be granted or renewed without a re -examina- 
tion. The examination is a personal one. The special trust is re- 
posed in the abilities, judgment, skill and learning of the examiner, 
and as a consequence, the services must be personal. It is a viola- 
tion of law for an examiner to adopt as his own an examination 
held by another; it is also unlawful to grant a certificate or renew a 
license without an examination, no matter what recommendations 
or testimonials the applicant presents. Every certificate issued by 
the examiner should show upon its face the degree of qualification 
possessed by the applicant in each of the branches named in the 
law. Blanks are issued by the state superintendent in conformity 
to law, and these should be followed by each eiaming officer. Cer- 
tificates issued in blank should be carefully avoided. 

PRIVATE EXAMINATIONS. 

The examiner is not required to grant a private examination. 
A private examination is one held at other than the regular quart- 
erly dates. A private examination does not mean one less difiicult 
or less comprehensive than the public examination. Its character 
is exactly like the public examination in every particular, save that 
it is held at an irregular time. Every regulation and requirement 
which attaches to the stated public examination attaches to every 



SCHOOL LAWS. 39 

private examination, and it is an open violation of law to conduct 
them on any basis other than this. Private examinations are not 
occasions for the examiner to do in a corner what he cannot do pub- 
licly. Examiners should never grant a private examination unless 
under a pressing public necessity certified to by the board of direc- 
tors whose interests are affected. 

Sec. 7018. He shall keep a record of the age, 
name, sex, postoffice address and nativity of each per- 
son licensed by him to teach, and of the date and grade 
of his certificate, and shall include such record in his 
report to the state superintendent. 

Sec. 7019. He shall encourage the inhabitants to 
form and organize school districts, to establish public 
schools therein, under qualified teachers, to furnish 
suitable text books for their children and to send them 
to school. He shall direct the attention of teachers and 
school patrons to those methods of instruction that will 
best promote mental and moral culture, and to the most 
feasible and improved plan for building and ventilating 
school houses. He shall labor to create among the peo- 
ple an interest in public schools, and shall take advan- 
tage of public occasions, such as the dedication of school 
houses, public examinations and institutes, to impress 
people with the importance of educating every child, 
and consequently of the duty of maintaining a system 
of free schools established by law. He shall receive the 
reports of the directors, transmit an abstract of the same 
to the state superintendent, and transmit therewith a 
report of the condition and prospects of the schools un- 
der his superintendence, together with such other infor- 
mation and suggestions as he may deem proper to com- 
municate. 

The best place for the performance of the chief part of these 
duties is at the county institute. No man who can not or will not do 
the things required by this section should accept the office of ex- 
aminer. 

The interests of education in each county would be largely ad- 
vanced if examiners took advantage of all public occasions to do 
their duty. The whole duty of an examiner is not to mark examina- 
tion papers and draw the fees therefor. Neither are these duties to be 
separated from the duties of examination and classed as "require- 
ments without compensation." The whole duties of the office must 
be taken together and the total fees collected are to be considered 
as full payment for the full performance of all duties. The negli- 
gence of examiners to do any one of the public acts required by this 
section, or to properly abstract the reports of the directors should 



40 SCHOOL LAWS. 

work removal from office at once. In many cases the blame for de- 
ficient examiners' reports is cast upon the directors when the truth 
is that the examiners are too negligent or too lazy to do the work. 

Political or religious considerations should not bias an examiner 
in granting certificates. If he cannot be thoroughly impartial he is 
not the man for the office. 

The department of education looks with disfavor on private 
normals, held by county examiners to coach teachers for quarterly 
examinations. He should be absolutely disinterested in every par- 
ticular, except as to merits and qualification. 

Sec. 7020. He shall, annually, on or before the 
twentieth of September, prepare in tabular form an ab- 
stract of the reports made to him by the directors of 
the school districts embraced within his county, show- 
ing the number of organized districts in his county at 
the commencement of the year, on the first day of July 
preceding, the districts that have made their annual re- 
ports, the number of persons in each district between 
the ages of six and twenty-one years, distinguishing the 
sex and also the color of said persons; the number of 
said persons that attended school during the year; the 
average number of males and females of each color in 
daily attendance ; and the number that pursued each of 
the studies designated to be taught in the common 
schools ; the number of teachers of each sex employed 
in his county; the average wages paid per month to the 
teachers of each sex, according to the grade of their 
certificate; the whole amount paid as teachers' wages 
in his county; the number of pupils that studied in his 
county, and the several branches taught ; the number of 
school houses erected during the year in his county, ma- 
terial and the cost of the same; the number before 
erected, the material used in their construction, their 
condition and value; the grounds ot how many inclosed; 
the amount of money raised by tax in each district, for 
what purpose raised; the amounts that have been ex- 
pended, and for what purpose; the amount of revenue 
received by his county from the common school fund, 
and received for the support of schools from each of all 
other sources; for what purposes and in what sums the 
said revenues were expended, and what amounts unex- 
pended were, at the close of the school year, in the 
county treasury; and shall report also the number of 
deaf mutes, blind and insane in each school district in 
his county, under thirty years of age, their names and 
their postoffice. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 41 

Sec. 7021. He shall number the several school 
districts in his county in regular order from number one 
upward, and shall keep in his office a record and des- 
cription of each district, with the boundaries clearly de- 
fined, and also a record of such changes or alterations 
in the boundaries of each as shall from time to time be 
made. 

Sec. 7022. He shall have the power to appoint some 
suitable person to hold teachers' institutes and examine 
teachers in his county in case of his inability to attend 
such institutes and examinations. Act Dec. 7, 1875, 
sees. 45-52. 

Sec. 7023. If any county examiner shall be found 
incompetent, or shall be frequently neglectful of his 
duty, upon satisfactory proof, the county judge shall 
remove him from office and shall immediately appoint 
his successor. Act March 11, 1881, sec. 7. 

Sec. 7024. If any county examiner shallTieglect, 
fail or refuse to perform any of the duties required of 
him in section 7020, and shall not forward the abstract 
mentioned in said section to the superintendent of pub- 
lic instruction on or before the twentieth day of Sep- 
tember of each year, he shall forfeit to the county the 
sum of twenty-five dollars, to be recovered as in this act 
provided, together with all cost, and be paid into the 
count}^ treasury. Act of Marcli 11, 1881, sec. 11. 

Sec. 7025. Each county examiner shall make out 
and present to the county court of his county, at its 
first term after the thirtieth of June in each year, an ac- 
count for expenditures for postage, county district re- 
cords, or a school district map of the districts of his 
county, and of freight or express charges for the trans- 
mission of blanks or such other expenditures as he may 
have actually and unavoidably incurred, and the county 
court may allow the same in any sum not exceeding 
twenty-five dollars in any one year, including ten dol- 
lars for his report to the superintendent of public in- 
struction. 

Sec. 7026. When the county court shall have al- 
lowed the account of the county examiner as provided 
in the preceding section, the county clerk shall issue a 
warrant upon the treasurer for said claim, and upon 
presentation of said warrant to the county treasurer, he 



42 SCHOOL LAWS. 

shall pay the same out of the common school funds in 
his hands belonging to the county and not yet appor- 
tioned to the several school districts. Act March 3, 
1887, sees. 2-3. 

DECISIONS. 

It has been held that a county superintendent is not entitled to 
an injunction to restrain one from teaching on the ground that he is 
teaching without a certificate of qualifications. 
Perkins v. Wolf et al., 17 Iowa, 228. 
When a statute vests a discretionary power in a county super- 
intendent in granting licenses to teach, the judgment of the court 
will not be substituted for that of the officer, and mandamus will not 
lie to compel him to issue a license, but where he wholly fails to act 
on an application he may be compelled by mandamus to take action 
thereon. 

Bailey v. Ewart, Northwestern Reporter, Vol. 2, N. S., Vol. 

2, p. 1009. 
High's Extraordinary Legal Remedies, sees. 24, 34, 43. 
Love V. Moore, 45 III.. 12. 

ANNUAL SCHOOL MEETING. 

Sec. 7027. That the male residents in each organ- 
ized school district in this state over the age of twenty- 
one years, who liave paid their poll tax and resided 
therein for thirty days, and within the state for a period 
of one year, and in the county six months, previous to 
said elections, shall annually on the third Saturday in 
May at two o'clock p. m., hold a public meeting to be 
designated "the Annual School Meeting of the Dis- 
trict," and each school district for the purpose of school 
elections alone, shall be a political township. Act Dec. 
7, 1875, sec. 54, as amended hij act of January 10, 1897. 

Sec. 7028. All persons qualified to vote for county 
and state officers at the general election shall be deemed 
qualified electors of the school district in which they 
reside, and shall have the privilege of voting at all 
school meetings.* 

Sec. 7029. The electors of every school district 
shall, when lawfully assembled in annual district school 
meeting, with not less than five electors present, have 
the power, by a majority of the votes cast at such meet- 
ing: First, to choose a chairman; second, to adjourn 
from time to time; third, to appoint, when necessary, 
in the absence of the directors of the district, a clerk 

*This section (7028) declares who are electors in a school meet- 
ing. Since a poll tax receipt is necessary before voting for county 
and state officers, it will be necessary before voting in a school elec- 
tion. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 43 

]pro tern. ; fourth, co elect a director for the district for 
the next three school years, who can read and write; 
fifth, to designate a site for a school house; sixth, to 
determine the length of time during which a school 
shall be taught more than three months in a year; 
seventh, to determine what amount of money shall be 
raised by tax on the taxable property of the district, 
sufficient, with the public school revenues apportioned 
to the district, to defray the expenses of a school for 
three months, or for any greater length of time they 
may decide to have a school taught during the year; 
Provided, No tax for purposes aforesaid greater than 
one-half of one per cent, on the assessed value of the 
taxable property of the district shall be levied; And 
provided, further, They may, if sufficient revenue can- 
not be raised to sustain a school for three months in any 
one year, determine by ballot that no school shall be 
taught during such year, in which case the revenue be- 
longing to such district shall remain in the treasury to 
the credit of such school district; eighth, to repeal or 
modify their proceedings from time to time(i). 

The powers of the electors as enumerated herein when legally 
exercised are final, and absolutely determine the matters named in 
the enumeration. But should the electors presume to act upon 
other matters not herein enumerated their action would be advisory 
and not mandatory. For instance : should the electors vote upon 
the teacher to be employed, or the time when the school should be- 
gin, or the wages to be paid the teacher, their action would not pre- 
clude the directors from acting differently. All such matters are 
given into the hands of the directors, and while the electors may 
advise they may not direct upon any matter not enumerated in the 
law. 

The enumerated powers of the electors are : 

1. To choose a chairman. Failure to choose a chairman does 
not invalidate the election by ballot held by judges and clerks under 
the law. 

2. To adjourn from time to time. If there is any business that 
cannot be attended to at the annual school meeting an adjouriaed 
meeting or meetings should be provided for at the annual meeting. 
Otherwise it must wait the next regular annual meeting. 

3. To appoint a clerk. 

4. To elect a director for the district for the next three school 
years who can read and write. Electors have no more right to elect 
a director who cannot read and write than they have to elect a di- 
rector who lives in another state or who is not an elector; and such 

(i.) Directors have no power to build a school house with funds 
of the district unless authorized to do so at the annual school meet- 
ing, and a contract made for such purpose under authority con- 
ferred by a special meeting held in June, is void. 
Fluty V. School District, 49-94. 



44 SCHOOL LAWS. 

an election confers no right to hold the office. Section 7040 author- 
izes the electors to elect a director to fill vacancies, and this should 
be done at the same time that the director is chosen who is to serve 
three years. To distinguish between the director who is to serve 
three years and the one who is to fill the vacancy the tickets in such 
cases should indicate in addition to the men's names the length of 
term for which the director is to serve. The words "regular term," 
"two years" and "one year," are a sufficient marking. The elector 
has the right not only to vote for any eligible person for direc- 
tor, but in cases where vacancies are to be filled to vote for the man 
and the place he is to fill or the time he is to serve. Votes cast for 
the same person but for different times must be counted separately. 

5. To designate a site for a school house. This action may be 
taken at the annual meeting, or at an adjourned meeting of the an- 
nual meeting. No special meeting may be called to do this or any 
other act enumerated in the section except the election of a director 
to fill a vacancy. Before the site may be lawfully designated at 
such annual meeting the notice required by section 7053 must have 
been given. 

6. To determine the length of time during which a school shall 
be taught more than three months in a year. This has given rise 
to some confusion of thought and action. Electors seem to think 
that unless they have voted affirmatively for an extended term that 
three months is the limit of the school term. This is not the case. 
The object for which taxes are levied is to maintain schools. This 
is affirmed in both constitution and law. Now, if the money appor- 
tioned to the district from the state and from the per capita tax is 
sufficient to maintain a school for more than three months it is the 
duty of the directors, without any affirmative action on the part of 
the electors, to maintain the school. The whole object of the statute 
was to prevent directors from incurring debt, and to permit the 
electors to provide money by local tax for an extended term, pro- 
vided such tax were needed. And if the electors, without specifi- 
cally voting for an extended term, vote such a local tax upon them- 
selves as will maintain an extended term, it is tantamount to saying 
they voted to extend the school. It cannot be argued that men will 
levy a tax upon themselves to remain idle in the treasury. Direc- 
tors may lawfully maintain a school to the limit of the funds on hand 
or that will be on hand by operation of law during the year. They 
cannot go beyond this. Directors are required to maintain a school 
for three months at least, and if the funds are not sufficient to de- 
fray all expenses of such schools a lesser term may not be con- 
tracted for unless the electors have either failed to vote by ballot 
that no school shall be taught that year, or have voted down the 
proposition of no school. In such cases the only alternative for the 
directors is to maintain the school for the longest time consistent 
with the means on hand. Where directors have money sufficient 
to maintain a three months' school any shorter term is unlawful. 
No term of school of three months should be divided. It should go 
on continuously to the end. 

7. To determine what amount of money shall be raised by tax- 
ation to defray the expenses of a school for three months or for any 
greater length of time If this amount is not determined by the 
viva voce vote of the electors in the annual meeting, but a local tax 
is levied nevertheless by ballot at the election following the mass 
meeting, the local tax must be taken as the determination of this 
question, and the directors are thereby authorized to maintain the 
school for three months or for such longer term as the tax levied 
will justify. If the tax levied is specially devoted to building, re- 



SCHOOL LAWS. 45 

pairs, or any other object, it may not be appropriated to tlie pay- 
ment of teachers' salaries. 

8. To repeal and modify their proceedings. The annual meet- 
ing, or mass meeting, of the electors should be attended by all the 
electors. The account of the directors should be investigated by 
committee or by the whole body; questions affecting the interest of 
the district should be discussed calmly and dispassionately, the 
good of the school should govern every citizen who attends the 
meeting. After the mass meeting the election should begin by 
ballot and pi oceed regularly under the law. Good sense, good or- 
der and patriotism should characterize every mass meeting of citi- 
zens. 

Besides these powers, the electors are authorized bj^ section 
7042, to direct the sale or exchange of the site or school house ; and 
by section 7065, to direct the use of the school house with reference 
to private schools; and by section 7050 to direct the proceedings in 
all actions and suits at law brought for or against the district, if they 
elect to do so. 

DECISIONS. 

Where a meeting of a school district ia held for a special pur- 
pose, all that is necessary in the form of the notice is that it should 
be so expressed as that the inhabitants of the district may fairly un- 
derstand the purpose for which they are convened. _ 
School District v. Blakeslee, 13 Conn., 227. 
Weeks v. Batchelder, 41 Ft., 317. 
Moore v. Beattie, 33 Vt., 219. 
Bartlett v. Kinsley, 15 Conn., 227. 
Reasonable time for opening meeting after convening. 

School District v. Blakeslee, 13 Conn., 22/ . 
Money for school purposes may be voted at an adjourned meet- 
ing in New Jersey. 

State V. Lewis, 3o N. J. L., 377 . 
Where it appears that a site for a school house has been chosen, 
it will not be invalidated because the clerk has made irregularities 
or omissions in describing the site selected. 
Merrittv. Farris, 22 HI., 303. 
Record of the school meeting, how attacked and the presump- 
tion of law flowing from it. 

School District V. Blakeslee, 13 Conn., 227. 
Bartlettv. Kinsley, 15 Conn., 327 . 
School District v. Atherton, 12 Met. (^Mass.), 105. 
As to posting of notices. 

Fletchel v. Lincolnville, 20 Me., 439. 

Sec. 7030. The annual district election shall be 
held by the school directors as judges, who shall have 
power to appoint two clerks ; and if any of the directors 
should not attend, the assembled voters may choose 
judges in the place of those not attending, and the 
judges and clerks shall take the oath prescribed by the 
general election law. 

Sec. 7031. The ballot of the voter shall, in addi- 
tion to the names of the persons voted for as directors, 
have written or printed on it the words "for tax," or 



46 SCHOOL LAWS. 

"against tax," and also the amount of tax the voter 
desires levied. 

Sec. 7032. When the polls are closed(j) the 
judges shall proceed to count the votes, ascertain the 
result and make return thereof to the county court, 
showing the number of votes cast for each person 
voted for for school director, also the number cast for 
and against tax, and the number of votes cast for each 
amount or rate of tax voted iov(k); such return, to- 
gether with the ballots, shall be sealed up and delivered 
by one of the judges to the county clerk, at least ten 
days before the meeting of the county court for levying 
taxes. 

Sec. 7033. The county court, at its said meeting 
for levying taxes, shall open the returns and ascertain 
whether a majority of the votes cast be for tax; and if 
a tax has been voted, then the court shall determine the 
amount of taxes voted by taking the largest amount or 
rate of taxation voted for by a majority of the voters, 
which shall be levied and collected by the district so 
voting; and if no rate shall have been received such 
majority, then all the votes cast for the highest rate 
shall be counted for the next highest, and so on, till 
some rate voted shall receive a majority of all the votes 
cast. Act Dec. 7, 1875, sees. 55-56, as amended hy act 
April 10, 1893, sec. 4. 

Sec. 7034. All taxes voted for school purposes by 
any school district shall be levied by the county court 
at the same time the county taxes are levied, and shall 
be collected in the same manner as the county taxes are 
collected, at the same time and by the same person, and 
be paid into the county treasury, there to be kept sub- 
ject to disbursement on the warrant of the school direct- 
ors; Provided, No tax for the purposes aforesaid 
greater than one-half of one per cent, on the assessed 

(j.) As to time for opening and closing the polls, see Holland 
v. Davies, 36-446. 

(fc.) Unless the judges make return of the election or vote to 
the county court, it cannot levy the tax. Hodgkin v. Fry, 33-716. 
The omission of the judges to state in their return the number of 
votes cast for and against the proposed tax will not defeat a levy 
adopted by the meeting. Holland v. Davies, 36-446; Staley v. 
Leomans, 53-428 As to other irregularities, see Holland v. Davies, 
supra, and Rogers v Kerr, 42-100. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 47 

value of the taxable property of the district shall be 
levied, which shall be done by ballot(/). Act Dec. 7, 
1875, sec. 41. 

SCHOOL DIEECTORS. 

Sec. 7035. At the annual school meeting, held on 
the third Saturday in May, there shall be elected, by 
the legal voters in each school district, a director, who 
shall hold his office for the term of three years, and un- 
til his successor shall have been elected and have qualified . 
Provided, At the first annual school meeting of the dis- 
trict after the passage of this act, three school directors 
shall be elected, to hold office one, two and three years, 
respectively ; Provided, further. When a new school dis- 
trict shall have been formed under the provisions of 
this act, three directors shall be immediately elected by 
the electors of the new district, and shall hold their of- 
fice for one, two and three years, respectively, and until 
their successors are elected and qualified as herein pro- 
vided for. Act Dec. 7, 1875, sec. 57, as amended by act 
March 11, 1881, sec. 2, and act January 30, 1889. 

Sec. 7036. The judges of any school election of 
this state for school direistors shall within five days after 
said election give to the said elected director a certificate 
of his election, who shall within ten days thereafter take 
the oath of office prescribed for directors, and file the 
same, together with his certificate of election, with the 
county clerk of his county, and enter at once upon the 
duties of his office(m'). Act Ja:nuary 30, 1889. 

Sec. 7037. An old director shall, upon application 
of an incoming director, administer to him the oath of 
office. Act March 11, 1881, sec. 5. 

Sec. 7038. Any person who shall have been 
elected or appointed a director, and shall neglect or re- 
fuse to qualify and gerve as such, shall forfeit to his dis- 
trict the sum of ten dollars, which may be recovered by 

(I.) The county court has no power to loYy a school tax inde- 
pendent of action on the part of the electors of each school district 
for which the tax is levied; it can only cause to be placed on the tax 
books and collected such rates as are reported from, the districts. 
An excessive levy vitiates the whole tax. Worthen v. Badgett, 
32-496. See By. v. Parks, lb., 131; Bogers v. Kerr, 42-100. 

(m.) For decision under this section before amended to read as 
now, see School District v. Bennett, 52-511. It is not sufficient to 
take the oath orally. School District v. Bennett, 52-428 . 



48 SCHOOL LAWS. 

action against him at the instance of any elector in the 
district, and which, when collected, shall be paid into 
the county treasury by the officer before whom the ac- 
tion was maintained, and added, by the treasurer, to 
the school fund revenues appropriated to the district. 

Sec. 7039. Any director who shall neglect or fail 
to perform any duties of his office shall forfeit to his 
district the sum of twenty-five dollars, to be recovered 
as directed in the preceding section, and to add in like 
manner to the school fund revenues apportioned to his 
district. 

This section g-ives a penalty for a violation of any duty enjoined 
upon the directors, and may be recovered at the instance of any 
elector. 

Sec. 7040. If the office of any director in a dis- 
trict becomes vacant, the electors of said district shall, 
in a district meeting assembled, within fifteen days 
after the occurrence of such vacancy, elect a director to 
serve the remainder of the unexpired term ; but if the 
district in which such vacancy occurs neglects or fail to 
elect a director to fill such vacancy, then the county 
court shall appoint from the electors of said district a 
director to serve the remainder of the term. 

From section 7036 it is plain that the last day upon which the 
newly elected director may take the oath of office may be fifteen 
days from the third Saturday in May. In case no director is elected 
the vacancy named in this section, would begin on the fifteenth day 
after the third Saturday in May, and the electors will have the right 
within fifteen days, or within thirty days after the annual meeting 
to elect a director for a vacancy caused by a failure to elect at the 
proper time. For a vacancy caused by death, resignation or other- 
wise, the electors have fifteen days from the date of such death, re- 
signation or other occurrence whi 'h caused the vacancy to fill the 
same. 

Sec. 7041. The said board shall make provisions 
for establishing separate schools for white and colored 
children and youths(^), and shall adopt such other 
measures as they may judge expedient for carrying the 
free school system into effectual antl uniform operation 
throughout the state, and providing, as nearly as pos- 
sible, for the education of every youth(oj. 

(n.) It is the duty of directors to provide equal school facilities 
for blacks and whites. Maddox v. Neal, 43-121. The board of di- 
rectors cannot claim to apportion the school funds and limit the 
school terms to each class according to its scholastic population. lb 

(o.) In the discharge of their duties, in this section prescribed, 
the board has discretion, but when it fails to perform its duties 
mandamus will lie to compel it to do so. Maddox v. Neal, 45-121. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 49 

The duty of estabKshing separate schools for both races is man- 
datory. If there are eleven or more black children, or eleven or 
more white children, they must have a school. Ten black children 
or a less number, or ten white children or less should be transferred 
to an adjoining district under the provisions of the act approved 
April 3, 1891. See sec. 7062. 

In the case of Maddox et al. v. Neal et al., Ark. Rep., 121, the 
supreme court of this state, says: ''A wide range of discretion is 
vested in these boards by the statute in the matter of the govern- 
ment and details of conducting of the common schools, but in the 
nature of things, there is a limit to this discretion. Some positive 
and imperative duties are imposed upon them about which they have 
no discretion. The first and most important duty of the board is to 
make provisions for establishing schools. When the funds are pro- 
vided, and the directors are not otherwise instructed by the school 
meeting of the district, the duty to provide a school for at least 
three months is mandatory, and the duty to establish separate 
schools for the whites and blacks is also incumbent on them. All 
the provisions of the law in relation to schools, in conformity to the 
constitutional mandate, are general, and the system, as far as the 
statute can make it, is uniform. No duty is imposed upon or dis- 
cretion given to the directors about schools for one race that is not 
applicable to the other. It is the clear intention of the cdtostitution 
and statutes alike to place the means of education within the reach 
of every youth. Education at the public expense has become a legal 
right extended by the laws to all the people alike. No discrimination 
on account of nationality, caste or other distinction has been at- 
tempted by the law-making powers. The boards of directors are 
only the agents, the trustees appointed to carry out the system pro- 
vided for. Their powers are no greater than the authority con- 
ferred by legislation. They can do nothing they are not expressly 
authorized to do, or which does not grow out of their expressed 
powers. . * * * The opportunity of instruction in public schools, 
given by the statute to all of the youths of the state, is in obedience, 
as we have seen, to special command of the constitution, and it is 
obvious that a board of directors can have no discretionary power 
to single out part of the children by the arbitrary standard of color, 
and deprive them of the benefits of the school privilege. To hold 
otherwise would be to set the discretion of the directors above all 
law." 

Sec. 7042. The directors shall have charge of the 
school affairs and of the school educational interests of 
their district, and shall have the care and custody of 
the school houses and grounds, the books, records, 
papers and other property belonging to the district, and 
shall carefully preserve the same, preventing waste and 
damage; and shall purchase or lease, in the corporate 
name of the district, such school house site as may be 
designated by a majority of the legal voters at the dis- 
trict meeting; shall hire, purchase or build a school 
house with funds provided by the district for that pur- 
pose; and may sell or exchange such site or school 



50 SCHOOL LAWS. 

house, when so directed by a majority of the electors of 
any legal meeting of the district(p). 

In general, school property is to be used for the purposes of 
education. It appears that the legislature has not inhibited the di- 
rectors from permitting the school house to be used temporarily 
and occasionally for other purposes. In Indiana it has been held 
that a school house may be used for township purposes. 
Trustees V. Osborne, 9 Ind., 458. 

The school house may be used for all lawful school district 
meetings of the electors or directors. 

In Iowa it has been held that the electors may direct the use of 
school houses for religious purposes. So in Ohio and Vermont. 
Chapinv. Hill, 24 Vt., 528. 
Weir V. Day, Supreme Court of Ohio, 1879. 
Central, Laiv Journal, Vol. 9, 398. 
Davis V. Boget, 50 la., 194. 

It has been held that the words, "to direct the sale or other dis- 
position to be made of any school house," conferred the power on 
the electors to vote upon the question as to whether the school 
house should be used lor religious purposes. 

Townshendv. Heagan et al., 85 Iowa, 194. 

Section 7042 by implication vests the power of directing the 
sale or exchange of the site or the school house in the electors 
alone. It is doubtful whether this authority may be so expanded as 
to authorize them to direct the temporary occasional use of the 
house. This authority appears to be vested by our statutes in the 
discretion of the directors alone. 

In Illinois it has been held that the temporary use of a school 
house is not forbidden by the constitution of that state. Nor is it 
forbidden by the constitution of Arkansas. 

In Nichols v. School Directors, Superior Court of Illinois, Novem- 
ber 10, 1879, it was held that an incidental use of a schoolhouse for 
religious purposes, not interfering with school purposes, is not in 
any reasonable sense inconsistent with the faithful application of 
the property to school purposes. Religion and religious worship 
are not so placed under the ban of the constitution that they may 
not be allowed to become the recipient of any incidental benefit 
from the authorities of the state. 

In Connecticut, however, it was held that a single tax payer 
might prevent the use of the school property for religious purposes 
by simpJy objecting thereto, and that he was entitled to an injunc- 
tion to inf orce his right. 

Schofield V. Eighth School District, 27 Conn., 499. 

The legislature of Connecticut afterwards enacted a law placing 
the right to direct the use of school property in a two-thirds vote 
of the electors. 

Section 7065 authorizes the directors to permit the use of the 
school house by a private school unless otherwise directed by a 
majority of the legal voters of the district. This enlargement of 
the power of the electors, as set out in section 7029 and in 7042, as 
to directing the sale or exchange of the site or school house, must 

(p.) Two members of the boards may bind the district at a 
contract, made at a meeting at which the third was present or had 
notice; but no contract can be made except at a meeting of which 
all had notice. 

School District v. Bennett, 52-511. 

See Widner v. State, 49-172. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 51 

be considered in construing these sections ; and the exercise of the 
enlarged power must be controlled by the provisions of section 
7029, that is, the electors may act upon these questions at the an- 
nual meeting or an adjournment thereof. 

It is evident that the respective powers and rights of directors 
and electors are not clear. The general principle is that the whole 
matter is left to the sound discretion of the directors, subject to a 
controlling direction on the part of the electors as to a private 
school. 

Sec. 7043. They shall hire for and in the name 
of the district, such teachers as have been licensed ac- 
cording to law, and shall make with such teachers a 
written contract, specifying the time for which the 
teacher is to be employed, the wages to be paid per 
month and any other agreement entered into by the 
contracting parties, and shall furnish the teachers with 
a duplicate of such contract, and keep the original; and 
they shall employ no person to teach in any common 
school of their district unless such person shall hold, at 
the time of commencing his school, a certificate and li- 
cense to teach, granted by the county examiner or state 
superintendent. 

The right to select a teacher, fix his salary, and the time for the 
opening of the school are matters which belong exclusively to the 
directors. The electors have no right to direct upon any question 
connected with the teaching of the school, save the single one of 
extending the term of the school. 

A contract duly executed between the proper officers of a 
school district and another person, by the terms of which said per- 
son is employed as a teacher in a public school in said district, is 
void where such person, at the time of making the contract, holds 
no certificate of authority to teach in the county where the district 
is located. The subsequent procurement of such certificate will not 
enable such person to recover against the district damages for the 
breach of such contract. 

Hosmer vs. School District, N. D., July 23, 1893. 

Directors cannot make a legal contract with a teacher who has 
no license. This negatives the right to contract with a principal 
teacher who is licensed for an amount of money to be paid him, 
out of which he is to pay the salaries of unlicensed assistants 

Every teacher, whether as principal or assistant, must be 
elected by the board of directors; every such person must have a 
license from the county examiner or state superintendent, and 
every such person must have a written contract. County treasur- 
ers are warranted to demand the contract of every teacher or 
assistant who presents a warrant for the payment of wages from 
the public school funds. If the warrant shows that its holder is 
principal, and that the amount specified on its face is for the pay- 
ment of the wages of assistants, or if it is proven to the treasurer 
that such is the case, he should refuse to pay the same as a viola- 
tion of sections 7051 and of 7043. The treasurer may also refuse to 
pay the warrant of any teacher who has not been licensed. See 
section 7052. The words, "properly drawn" in this section refer 
back to the inhibitions of section 7043, and forward to the positive 



52 SCHOOL LAWS. 

inhibition of section 7071, and the treasurer should exercise the 
greatest caution in the matter of paying these doubtful warrants. 

The acts of school directors are corporate acts. To bind the 
district it is necessary for them to act at a regular meeting, or a 
called meeting, of which, notice was given to each director. At 
such meetings the act of a majority of the board is the act of the 
whole board. 

CONTRACTS. 

A board of school directors empowered by statute without any- 
limitation to employ a superintendent of schools may make a con- 
tract for a superintendent for a term beginning after some mem- 
bers of the board go out of oflflce. 

Gates V. School District of Fort Smith, 53 Ark., 468. 
Davis V. School District, 81 Mich., 214. 

This decision applies to all teachers employed in the schools as 
well as to the superintendent. 

The following opinion of the attorney general contains the law 
upon this point: 

The office of school director is a very important one— more im- 
portant than is generally considered by the people. The best men 
in the district should be selected for this responsible position. . The 
progress and development of our various resources depends, in a 
great measure, upon the efficiency of school directors. Although 
the lowest of elective officers, yet it is equal to the highest in its 
influence in advacing the prosperity of the state. 

School directors have charge of the educational interests of 
their respective districts; have the care and custody of school 
houses, grounds, books, records, papers, etc.; they shall pur- 
chase or lease school-house site designated by the legal voters; 
they shall hire, purchase or build a school house with funds pro- 
vided for that purpose; they shall hire and contract with teachers; 
they shall adopt a series of text books to be used in the district 
school; they shall furnish teachers with a register; they shall visit 
the schools and submit to the district an estimate of the expenses 
of said district; draw warrants on the treasurer; make the enu- 
meration and enrollment report between the 1st and 10th of Sep- 
tember, and make settlements with the county treasurer, etc. 

For the purpose of carrying out the above mentioned duties 
with wisdom and discretion, each district has three school direc- 
tors. These directors constitute an educational board, and should 
meet and transact all business of the district as a board. The first 
business of a school board, composed of continuing and newly 
elected members, is to organize by electing a president and secre- 
tary. Directors are possessed of specially defined powers, and 
should exercise no others, and cannot do so legally. In the tran- 
saction of all business pertaining to the district, all members of the 
board must meet together, or have notice to meet. The action of 
majority of the school board will not bind the district when one of 
the directors had no notice of the meeting and did not participate 
in it. {4 Nebr., 254.) The district has a right to the wisdom, ex- 
perience and judgment of each director, and a majority of the di- 
rectors ca mot legally bind the district unless each member of the 
board has had due and timely notice of said meeting. A contract 
by two of the members of the board, when all have had notice, is 
legal and binding on the district. When a board is by statute made 
a body corporate, individual members acting separately, although, 
a majority, cannot contract a debt or draw a warrant for its pay- 
ment. 

22 Ohio, 144; 27 Kan., 129. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 53 

This additional opinion contains another principle. 

Sir — In answer to your inquiries I have the honor to say that, 
in my opinion, section 7043 applies as well to special, or single 
school district, as to ordinary common school districts. 

I am of the opinion that it applies to the superintendent of 
schools in such special districts, provided he is to act as a teacher, 
otherwise not. 

I am also of the opinion that said section is mandatory upon 
the directors, but I do not believe, or mean to be misunderstood as 
saying, that a verbal contract made with a qualified teacher would 
be void because not in writing. 

The contracts made by a board of directors are disqualified to 
hold office. They are de facto officers. 

Sec. 7044. The term "month," wherever it oc- 
curs in any section of this act, shall be constrnced to 
mean twenty days, or four weeks of five days each. 
Act December 7, 1875, sees. 58-62. 

Sec. 7045. The directors of school districts, other 
than special school districts, may expend annually, out 
of the common school fund, not more than twenty-five 
dollars during any one year for any school unde(i their 
control for maps, charts, globes, dictionaries and other 
apparatus necessary to the progress of the school ; Fro- 
vided, said maps, charts, globes, dictionaries and other 
-apparatus meets the approval of the state superintend- 
ent, in price and merit. Act February 16, 1893. 

Sec. 7046. The directors of each school district in 
this state shall adopt and caused to be used in the pub- 
lic schools, in their respective districts, one series of 
text books in each branch or science taught in the pub- 
lic schools of their respective districts, and no change 
in these books shall be made for a period of three years, 
unless it be by a petition of a majority of the voters of 
the district desiring the change. Act 3farch 11, 1881, 
sec. 2. 

See section 6975 and comments and opinions therein set out. 

The penalty for failure to perform the duties imposed by this 
act is a fine of not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars. See 
sec. 7070. , 

Sec. /047. They shall procure from the county 
examiner, and furnish the teacher at the commence- 
ment of the term, a register for his school, and require 
the said teacher to report, in said register, at the close 
of the school term, the number of days of the said 
term, the name and age of each pupil, the date on 
which each entered the school, the separate days on 
which each attended, the whole number of days each 
attended, the studies each pursued, the total number of 



54 SCHOOL LAWS. 

days all pupils attended, the average daily attendance 
and the number of visits received from the directors 
during the said term. Act December 7, 1875, sec. 63. 

The keeping of thi» register according to all its requirements, 
perfected and complete, is compulsory upon the teacher, and he 
cannot draw his last month's wages until this duty is performed. 
See sec. 7076. 

Sec. 7048. They shall visit the schools at least 
once each term, and encourage the pupils in their stud- 
ies, and give such advice to the teacher as may be for 
the benefit of teacher and pupils. 

Sec. 7049. They shall submit to the district, at 
the annual meeting, an esimate of the expenses of the 
district for that year, including the expenses of a 
school for the term of three months for the next year, 
after deducting the probable amount of school moneys, 
to be apportioned to the district for that school year, 
and shall also submit an estimate of the expenses per 
month of continuing the school beyond the term of 
three months, and of whatever else may be necessary 
for the comfort and advancement of the said school. 

The blank prescribed to meet the requirements of this section 
will be found on page 131. 

It will be seen that there are several items of expense. Should 
the directors fill each blank, thus recommending a tax for each 
item of expense, and should the electors vote the rate of tax sug- 
gested, or any other rate, without expressly negativing an item 
recommended, then the tax voted must be held to be voted in strict 
compliance with the estimate ; and the estimate should be returned 
with the poll books to the county clerk so that the county judge in 
making his levy may levy to suit the vote and the estimate which 
is the basis of the vote. The tax levied and the items of the esti- 
mate should be certified by the clerk to the treasurer. The treas- 
urer should distribute the tax when collected to the various pur- 
poses named in the estimate, opening an account with each special 
item, the only index to the purpose for which the tax was levied. 
Should the tax collected be more or less than the amount of the es- 
timate, then each item of the estimate must be increased or de- 
creased in proportion. It must never be forgotten that the esti- 
mate submitted by the directors is a necessary part of the election, 
and is the only source from which the intention of the electors as 
to the purpose of tax is to be gathered, except the ballots. If the 
ballots declare " for five mills," with no accompanying words, then 
the court in levying the tax is relegated to the estimate for the pur- 
pose of the tax; and if the estimate distributes the expense by 
items, then the necessary, and only inference is that the tax was 
voted for the express purpose of meeting the estimate. If the bal- 
lots declare " for tax " and the estimate is not itemized, but massed 
under the general words "for common school purposes" or "for 
general purposes " or any other language which intimates gener- 
ality of purpose, or should the ballots themselves declare this gen- 
erality, then the necessary and only legal inference is that the tax 
was to be levied for general purposes, and should be so levied by 



SCHOOL LAWS. 55 

the court. And in every case where the vote is so generahzed the 
directors are empowered to distribute the tax so levied and col- 
lected for any and every necessary school purpose except building 
a house. No house can be built under the general authority " for 
general purposes," although any other necessary expense may be 
met that way. The treasurer is always authorized to pay the war- 
rants of a board of directors for any purpose save building where 
the levy of the court or the vote of the electors was " for general 
purposes" or other general language. 

But if the estimate submitted to the electors is limited by the 
words "for teachers' salaries," and the ballots are simply "for 
tax," then the levy is special, and the tax when collected must be 
distributed "for teachers' salaries alone." It is better for every in- 
terest of the district that the ballots declare " for general school 
purposes." This will vest a discretion in the directors, and will en- 
able them to meet the demands of the school at any time. These 
comments have force only as they concern the " local tax." The 
funds received from the state apportionment and from the per 
capita tax are not under the control of the electors, save that where 
they are not sufficient to maintain a three months' school the 
electors may direct them to remain in the treasury. 

Such funds, with the exception named are under the control of 
the directors alone, and must be used to maintain free schools. In 
doing this the directors may use them for paying the salaries of 
teachers and all necessary expenses incident thereto. It%s difficult 
to draw the line between necessary and unnecessary expenses, and 
where there are grave doubts as to this the directors should not 
incur the expense. Several supreme courts have decided that 
" maps, globes, charts and other illustrative appliances," are not 
necessary, and directors are relieved from deciding this question. 
The legislature wisely permits them to buy these things from an 
approved list to the amount of twenty- five dollars each year. 

But "repair of house" when imperative and which cannot be 
delayed to the annual meeting of the electors, fuel, stoves, black- 
boards, buckets, dippers, crayons and erasers, are necessary inci- 
dents to the life of a school and are proper charges upon the state 
and per capita apportionment. Seats are necessary, of course, but 
as they are a part of the building itself they must be furnished by a 
like process; a special tax must be levied. The words "for building 
purposes" will authorize the directors not only to build but to fur- 
nish with seats. The only trouble that can arise is where there is 
an entire absence of seats and a positive refusal on the part of the 
electors to pT-ovide a tax for their purchase. In that case no 
school can be supported. The law expressly empowers the direct- 
ors "to hire, purchase or build a school house, with funds provided 
by the district for that purpose," and no other funds can be used. 
It follows then that the local tax is absolutely necessary before a 
house may be rented, built, purchased or furnished. The words 
"for general purposes" in the voting of a local tax will authorize 
the use of the tax for hiring or furnishing; but to purchase or build 
there must be a vote for this specific purpose. 

Sec. 7050. They shall, in all suits and actions at 
law brought by or against their district, appear for and 
in behalf of said district. Provided, They shall have 
no other directions or instructions by a lawful meeting 
of the electors of their district. 



Bd SCHOOL LAWS. 

Sec. 7051. They shall draw orders on the treas- 
urer of the county for the payment of wa^es due teach- 
ers, or for any lawful purpose, and they shall state in 
every such order the services or consideration for 
which the order is drawn, and the name of the person 
rendering such service; but they shall not draw any 
order on the county treasurer for the payment of the 
wages of any teacher not licensed (q). 

Sec. 7052. When the warrant of any board of di- 
rectors, properly drawn, is presented to the treasurer 
of the proper county, he shall pay the same out of any 
funds in his hands for that purpose belonging to the 
district specified in said warrant (r). See sec. 7043. 

Sec. 7053. The directors shall give notice of each 
annual meeting, by posting notices thereof, at least 
fifteen days previous to such meeting, in three or more 
conspicuous places within the district (s) ; but it shall 
not be lawful for a district, at any annual meeting, to 
fix a site for a school-house, or to raise money for 
building or purchasing a school-house, unless the direc- 
tors shall have particularly set forth in the previous 
notice given of such meeting that these matters were to 
be submitted for their consideration and action (t). 

Sec. 7054. One of the directors shall act as clerk 
at all district meetings, shall keep a record of the pro- 
ceedings thereof in a book provided for that purpose, 
or, if absent, shall transcribe into said book the min- 
utes kept by the clerk 2^ro tempore, and signed by the 
chairman, as so much of the authenticated records of 
the district; and he shall enter on the said book copies 

(g.) School warrants may be issued by two directors. Grain 
V. State, 45-450. 

(r.) Statutes of limitation run against school warrants. School 
District v. Cromer, 52-454; School District v. Reeve, 56-68. 

Effect of warrants drawn in lieu of destroyed or lost warrants, 
see School District v. Cromer, 52-454. 

(s.) It is the duty of the directors to designate the place of the 
annual meeting, and notice of the time and place is essential to the 
validity of a tax voted at such meeting. But the statute designates 
the time, and all are bound to take notice of it. If notice of the 
place be given, the meeting will be legal, though the time be not 
specified in the notice. Hodgkin v. Fry, 33-716. A notice given by 
two of the directors is sufficient. Holland v. Davies, 36-446; Davies 
v. Holland, 43-425. 

(f.) See Fluty v. School District, 49-94. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 57 

of all Ms reports to the county clerk and the county 
examiner. 

Sec. 7055. He shall keep, in a book provided for 
that purpose, the accounts of the district, by debits 
and credits, including the accounts with the county 
treasurer, and shall present the same to each annual 
meeting, showing the current expenses for the year, for 
school-houses, out-buildings, fences with which to in- 
close a school-house site, for stoves, wood, maps, charts, 
blackboards, a dictionary, and other necessaries for a 
school, and stating the number of days the directors 
have been necessarily employed in the performance of 
their duties as directors ; the date of each order drawn 
by them on the county treasurer, and for what services 
or consideration for what amounts and in whose favor, 
exhibiting vouchers therefor; a statement of the in- 
debtedness of the district, and also of the surplus 
moneys, ^f any, in the county treasury belonging to 
the district at the commencement of the year; the 
amount of taxes levied on the district for school pur- 
poses within the year; the different purposes for which 
said taxes were levied, and the amount levied for each 
purpose. If, on examination, the report be found cor- 
rect, the chairman of the meeting shall approve the 
same, and order that it be filed with the records of the 
district. 

Sec. 7056. The directors shall, within ten days 
after any school meeting, report to the clerk of the 
county so much of the proceedings of said meeting as 
pertains to the election of officers; and they shall, on 
or before the first day of October in each year, furnish 
to the clerk so much of the copy of their record, at- 
tested by the chairman of the meeting, as shows the 
amount of money voted to be raised by the district, for 
school purposes, at the annual meeting. 

Sec. 7057. They shall, annually, between the first 
and tenth days of September, transmit, verified by 
their affidavit, to the county examiner, a written re- 
port, in proper form, of the name of their county; of 
the number of their district; the names and ages of all 
persons, between the ages of six and twenty-one years, 
residing in their district on the first day of September; 
the number of males and females respectively, of each 



58 SCHOOL LAWS. 

color, that attended the common schools dnring the 
last school year ; the average number of each sex that 
attended daily; the number that pursued each of the 
studies designated to be taught in the common schools 
of this state ; the number of times the school was vis- 
ited each term by the directors ; the number of days 
the school was taught during the year by a licensed 
teacher; the name of each teacher; the grade of his 
certificate; the wages paid each teacher per month, and 
the whole amount of wages paid teachers during the 
year. They shall include in their report the amount of 
taxes voted by the district during the last school year, 
for what purpose voted, and the amount voted for each 
purpose; the amount drawn from the county treasurer 
for each purpose for which money was raised by dis- 
trict tax the previous year ; the amount of revenues re- 
ceived from the common school fund, and the amount 
received from each of the various other sources from 
which school revenues are derived ; the amount of each 
kind of revenue remaining in the county treasury and 
subject to the order of the district; the number of 
school houses erected during the year, and the cost and 
material of each ; the number, the material, the con- 
dition and the value of those before erected, and the 
value of all other property belonging to the district ; 
the condition of the school house grounds, and whether 
the said grounds are enclosed; also, name, age and 
postoffice of deaf, dumb, blind and insane in each dis- 
trict, including all who are blind or deaf, or to such an 
extent as not to be educated in common schools ; and 
they shall record the said report in the proper place in 
the district book in which the current record of the 
proceedings of the district is kept. 

Seg. 7058. If the directors of any district fail or 
neglect to make a report of the enumeration, statistics 
and finances of their district at the time and in the 
manner prescribed in the preceding section, the said 
directors, in addition to their forfeiture for neglect of 
duty, shall severally be liable for any damages, includ- 
ing the costs of the suit, that the district may sustain 
by reason of losing the school revenues that would 
* otherwise have been apportioned to them. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 59 

Sec. 7059. They shall, at the close of the school 
year, settle with the county treasurer, and ascertain 
what, moneys, if any, to which their district may be en- 
titled, and the amounts, severally, thereof that are in 
the county treasury and subject to be drawn by their 
district. Tb. sees. 64-75. 

Sec. 7060. The directors of any school district 
may, at the instance of the teacher, suspend from the 
school any pupil for gross immorality, refractory con- 
duct or insubordination, or for infectious disease. 
Provided, Such suspension shall not extend beyond 
the current term. 

Directors should remember that the right to attend school 
grows out of bona fide residence and not from an enumeration in a 
district or the payment of taxes. When a man moves into a dis- 
trict with the intention of making it his permanent residence, he 
acquires the right to send to the public schools at once. The di- 
rectors are to decide from all the circumstances, whether the resi- 
dence is permanent or temporary. If temporary no free school 
privileges obtain. • 

It will be seen that the power to suspend is lodged with the 
directors. The teacher has no authority to perform this act of dis- 
cipline upon his own motion. He must report the infraction of 
discipline to the board of directors, who are alone authorized to 
act. 

DECISIONS. 

The general school committee of a town has power to exclude 
therefrom a child of immoral or licentious character though such 
character be not manifested by any acts in the school room. The 
learned judge reasoned as follows: "It seems to be admitted, if 
not, it could hardly be questioned, that for misconduct in school, 
for disobedience to its reasonable regulations, a pupil may be ex- 
cluded. Why so? There is no express provision in the law (as it 
then was) authorizing such exclusion; it results by necessary im- 
plication from the provision of law requiring good discipline. It 
proves that the right to attend school is not absolute, but one to be 
enjoyed by all on reasonable conditions." 

Trustees v. People, 87 Illinois, 303. 

Rulesonv. Post, 79 III., 567. 

Morrow v. Wood, 36 Wis., 59. 

Sherman v. Charleston, 8 Gush., 160. 

Peck V. Smith. 41 Conn., 442. 
It is undoubtedly true that trustees or committees have the 
power, and it is their duty to dismiss or exclude a pupil from their 
school when, in their judgment, it is necessary for the good order 
and proper government of the school so to do. 

Stephenson v. Hall, 14 Barb., 222. 
They may do so to prevent a pupil from bringing contagion 
into a school. 

Spear v. Cummins, 23 Pick., 225. 
The school authorities have a right to exclude from their 
grounds or buildings anyone who enters therein to disturb the 
peace or interfere with the legitimate exercises of the school. 

Hughes v. Goodell, 3 Pittsb., L. J., 264. 



^^0 



SCHOOL LAWS. 



Whatsoever has a direct and immediate tendency to injure the 
school in its important interests, or to subvert the authority of 
those in charge of it, is properly a subject for regulation and dis- 
cipline, and this is so wherever the acts may be committed. 

Burdick v. Babcock, 31 Iowa, 562. 
There is a limit to the powers of the school directors, and that 
limit is the needfulness or reasonableness of the rule. Thus, where 
a rule forbade the attendance of pupils upon social parties, and 
where a pupil was expelled for a violation thereof, it was held that 
the board had power to make all needful rules for the government 
of pupils while at school, but no power to follow them home and 
govern their conduct while under the parental eye; and that in 
prescribing the rule it had gone beyond its power. 

Dritt V. Snodgrass, 66 Mo., 286. 
But in the same state it was held that a rule forbidding pupils 
from fighting and using profane language on the way to and from 
school was good, and that punishment could be inflicted for a vio- 
lation thereof. 

Deskins v. Gose, 85 Mo., 585. 
Teachers should remember that the rule-makers are the direc- 
tors. 

State V. Barton, 45 Wis., 150. 

Morrow v. Wood, 35 Wis., 50. 
Wherever, however, it is absolutely necessary for the teacher 
to act in order to preserve the school from anarchy, or to maintain 
order and discipline, he is justified in so doing without waiting for 
an order of the directors. Wherever the exercise of this right is not 
called for by present necessity, it should be deferred for action 
by the board. 

State ex rel, etc. v. Barton, 45 Wis., 150. 
Neither the teacher with a legal certificate and lawfully em- 
ployed, nor the board of school directors, are liable in damages for 
tort by reason of having expelled a child from school, so long as 
they act in good faith. If they err in good faith in the discharge of 
their duties they are not liable. 

Donahue v. Richards, 38 Me., 376. 

Sewell V. Board of Education, 29 Ohio St., 89. 

Spear v. Cummings, 23 Pich., 22. 

Boyd V. Blaisdel, 15 Ind., 73. 

Stephenson v. Hall, 14 Barb., 222. 
But where the child is entitled to go to school and the expulsion 
is wrongful, see contra. 

Roev. Deming, 21 Ohio St., 666. 
To make either liable there must be malice. 

Dritt V. Snodgrass, 66 Mo., 286. 

Commonwealth v. Seed, 5 Pa., L. J. R., 78. 
Nor is the teacher liable on an implied contract to teach. There 
is no implied contract in the public schools between teacher and 
pupil. The only contract is with the board of directors to whom 
he is accountable for his acts, unless he is stirred by malicious mo- 
tives and renders himself amendable to law. 

Steckey v. Churchman, 2 Bradw. {III.), 584. 
In Michigan it has been held that before expulsion or suspen- 
sion may be adjudged against pupils who in any way deface or in- 
jure the school building, out-houses, furniture, maps or anything 
else belonging to the school, that such injury or defacement must 
be shown to be wilful and malicious. A careless act will not sustain 
the rule, even though the pupil be tofi poor to make satisfaction. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 61 

Holman v. School Trustees of Avon, Supreme Court Re- 
ports, 1889. 
Directors, in the absence of promulgated rules, may suspend or 
expel, whenever upon due examination they become satisfied that 
the interests of the school demand such expulsion, any pupil who 
transgresses unwritten but well-defined rules of conduct prescribed _ 
by common sense and decency. 

State V. Hamilton, 42 Mo. App., 24. 
See also, 

Holman v. Trustees, 77 Mich., 605. 

AS TO RULES GENERALLY. 

Sections 7041, 7042 and 7060 place the rule-making power with 
the directors. The power ordinarily given and its extent has been 
well expressed by the learned judge in Rulison v. Post, 79 III., 567. 
He said: 

"In the performance of their duty in carrying the law into 
effect, the directors may prescribe certain rules and regulations 
for the government of the schools in their district, and enforce 
them. They may, no doubt, classify the scholars, regulate their 
studies and their deportment, the hours to be taught, besides the 
performance of other duties necessary to promote the success and 
secure the well-being of such schools. But all such rules and regu- 
lations must be reasonable, and calculated to promote ijhe objects 
of the law — the conferring of such an education upon all, free of 
charge. The law having conferred upon each child of proper age 
the right to be taught the enumerated branches, any rule or regu- 
lation which by its enforcement would tend to hinder or deprive 
the child of this right can not be sustained. All rules must be 
adapted to the promotion and accomplishment of this great and 
paramount object of the law." 

Now, what are reasonable rules? 

In Thompson v. Beaver, 63 III., 353, the following conclusion 
was reached: 

"What are reasonable rules is a question of law, and we do not 
hesitate to declare that a rule that would bar the doors of the 
school house against little children who had come from so great a 
distance (one and one-half miles) in the cold winter, for no other 
reason than that they were a few minutes tardy, is unreasonable 
and therefore unlawful. In its practical operation it amounts to 
little less than wanton cruelty." 

Among the rules established by the board in a certain district 
was this : 

"All pupils will be required to bring written excuses from their 
parents to teachers for absence, and such excuses must be satisfac- 
tory and reasonable, otherwise they will not be granted." 

The court commented upon the rule as follows : 

"The rule in question is not a hard or harsh one. It does not 
of itself indicate any sinister or malevolent purpose, or wicked 
force, on the part of the directors. It does not trench upon the 
rights or dignity of any one. We instantly and properly repel any 
encroachment upon our rights as citizens. We have a proper pride 
and ambition in maintaining these rights under any and all circum- 
stances. But I am utterly unable to understand how this simple 
rule or regulation, requiring the pupil in certain cases to bring a 
written excuse from its parents to the teacher, is an attack upon. , 
or an abridgment of, our inalienable rights as citizens of this free 
country." 

Churchill v. Fewkes, 13 III. App. (13 Brad.), 520. 



62 SCHOOL LAWS. 

The directors may make and enforce a rule forbidding the use 
of tobacco or whisky in any form, or the carrying of any deadly 
weapon, in any school room or in any part of the school building. 

BNFOECEMENT OF RULES BY CORPORAL PiJnISHMENT. 

The following summary of cases will give an idea of what has 
been held with reference to corporal punishment in schools by 
courts of last resort in other states. 

"The right of the parent to keep the child in order and obedi- 
ence is secured by the common law. He may lawfully correct his 
child, being under age, in a reasonable manner, for this is for the 
benefit of his education. He may delegate, also, a part of his 
parental authority, during his life, to the tutor or schoolmaster of 
his child, who is then in loco parentis, and has such portion of the 
power of the parent committed to his charge — viz.: that of restraint 
and correction — as may be necessary to answer the purpose for 
which he is employed. 

I Black., Com., 4,53, 454. 
1 Hale's P. C, 473,474. 

"The rights of parents (over their children) result from their 
duties. As they are bound to maintain and educate their children, 
the law has given them the right to such authority; and, in support 
of that authority, a right to the exercise of such discipline as may 
be requisite for, the discharge of their sacred trust. 'The power 
allowed by law to the parent over the person of the child may be 
delegated to a tutor or instructor, the better to accomplish the pur- 
poses of education.' " 

KenVs Com., 169, 170. 

Although the town school is instituted by the authority of the 
statute, the children are to be considered as put in charge of the in- 
structor for the same purpose, and be clothed with the same power 
as when he is directly employed by the parents. The power of the 
parent to restrain and coerce obedience in children can not be 
doubted, and it has seldom or never been denied. The power dele- 
gated to the master by the parent must be accompanied for the 
time being with the same right, as incidental, or the object sought 
must fail of accomplishment. 

"The practice, which has generally prevailed in our town 
schools since the settlement of the country, has been in accordance 
with the law thus expressed, and resort has been had to personal 
chastisement when a milder means of restraint had been unavail- 
ing." 

Stevens v. Fassett, 27 Me., 266. 

"The law having elevated the teacher to the place of the par- 
ent, if he is still to sustain that sacred relation, it become him to be 
careful in the exercise of his authority, and not make his power a 
pretext for cruelty and oppression." 

14 Johns. R., 119. 
"Whenever he undertakes to exercise it, the cause must be 
sufficient, the instrument suitable to the purpose; the manner and 
extent of the correction, the part of the person to which it is ap- 
plied, the temper in which it is afflicted; all should be distinguished 
with the kindness, prudence and propriety which becomes the sta- 
tion." 

Cooper V. McJunkin, 4 Ind., 291. 

The law, as we deem it to exist, is this: A schoolmaster has 
the right to inflict reasonable corporal punishment. He must exer- 
cise reasonable judgment and discretion, in determining when to 
punish, and to what extent. In determining upon what is a reas- 



SCHOOL LAWS. 63 

enable punishment various considerations must be regarded — the 
nature of the offense, the apparent motive and disposition of the 
offender, the influence of his example and conduct upon others, 
and the sex, age, size and strength of the pupil to be punished. 
Among reasonable persons much difference prevails as to the cir- 
cumstances which will justify the infliction of punishment, and the 
extent to which it may properly be administered. On account of 
this difference of opinion, and the difficulty which exists in de- 
termining what is a reasonable punishment, and the advantage 
which the master has by being on the spot to know all the circum- 
stances — the manner, looks, tone, gestures and language of the 
offender (which are not always easily described), and thus to form 
a correct opinion as to the necessity and extent of the punishment, 
considerable allowance should be made to the teacher, by way of 
protecting him in the exercise of his discretion. Especially should 
he have this indulgence when he appears to have acted from good 
motives and not from anger or malice. Hence, the teacher is not 
to be held liable on the ground of excess of punishment unless the 
punishment is clearly excessive, and would be so held in the gen- 
eral judgment of reasonable men. If the punishment be thus 
clearly excessive, then the master should be held liable for such 
excess, though he acted from good motives in inflicting the punish- 
ment, and in his own judgment considered it necessary and not 
excessive. But if there is any reasonable doubt whether %he pun- 
ishment was excessive, the master should have the benefit of the 
doubt." 

Lander v. Slaver, 32 Vt., 114. 

In State V. Mizner, 59 la., the supreme court appi'oved the fol- 
lowing instructions: 

"In the absence of all proof, the law presumes that a father or 
school teacher punishes a child of the father or the pupil of the 
teacher for a reasonable cause and in a moderate and reasonable 
manner. But this presumption, like all other legal presumptions, 
may be rebutted by the proof. 

"The legal objects and purposes of punishment in schools are 
like the objects and purposes of the state in punishing the citi- 
zens. They are threefold. First, the reformation and the highest 
good of the pupil; second, the enforcement and maintenance of 
correct discipme in school; and third, as an example to like evil- 
doers. And io no case can the punishment be justifiable unless it is 
infiicted for some definite offense or offenses which the pupil has 
committed, and the pupil is given to understand what he or she is 
being punished for. And if you find from the evidence that the 
punishment in this case was inflicted upon the prosecutrix without 
her knowing what she was being punished for, then the punish- 
ment was wrong on the part of the defendant. Punishment in- 
flicted when the reason of it is unknown to the punished, is sub- 
versive and not promotive of the true objects of punished and can 
not be justified." 

It was also held that any punishment with a rod which left 
marks or welts on the person of the pupil for two months after- 
ward, or much less time, was immoderate and excessive, and that 
the court would have been justified in so instructing the jury. In 
this case the pupil was punished by the teacher because, acting un- 
der the direction of her father, she did not study algebra or attend 
school at the hours fixed. The court held that such a violation of 
rules should be punished by suspension or expulsion and not by 
whipping. 



64 SCHOOL LAWS. 

"We hold, therefore, that it may be laid down as a general rule,, 
that teachers exceed the limits of their authority when they cause 
lasting mischief; but act within the limits of it when they inflict 
temporary pain. 

"Within the sphere of this authority the master is the judge: 
when correction is required, and of the degree of correction ne- 
cessary; and, like all others intrusted with a discretion, he can not 
be made personally responsible for error of judgment, but only for 
wickedness of purpose. 

"But the master may be punishable when he does not tran- 
scend the powers granted, if he grossly abuse them. If he use his 
authority as a cover for malice, and under pretense of administer- 
ing correction gratify his own bad passions, the mask of the judge 
shall be taken off, and he will stand amenable to justice as an indi- 
vidual not invested with judicial power." 

State V. Pendergrass, 2 Dev. & Bat , 365. 

"If, inflicting punishment upon his pupil, he went beyond the 
limit of moderate castigation, and, either in the mode or degree of 
correction, was guilty of any unreasonable and disproportionate 
violence or force he was clearly liable for such excess in a criminal 
prosecution." 

I Hawk., c. 60, sec. 23. 

Kussell on Crimes, 7th Amer. Ed., 755. 

Bac. Ah. Assault and Battery, C. J. 

"It is undoubtedly true, that, in order to support an indictment 
for an assault and battery, it is necessary to show that it was com- 
mitted ex intentione, and that if the criminal intent is wanting the 
offense is not made out. But this intent is always inferred from 
the unlawful act. The unrt^asonable and excessive use of force on 
the person of another being proved, the wrongful intent is a neces- 
sary and legitimate conclusion in all cases where the act was 
designedly committed. It then becomes an assault and battery, 
because purposely inflicted without justification or excuse. 
Whether, under all the facts, the punishment of the pupil is exces- 
sive, must be left to the jury." 

Commonwealth v. Randall, 4 Gray, 36. 

"In inflicting such punishment the teacher must exercise sound 
discretion and judgment, aad must adapt it not only to the offense 
but to the offender. Horace Mann, a high authority in the matter- 
of schools, says of corporal punishment: 'It should be reserved 
for baser faults. It is a coarse remedy, and should be employed 
upon the coarse sins of our animal nature, and, when employed at 
all, should be administered in strong doses.' Of course the teacher 
in inflicting such punishment, must not exceed the bounds of 
moderation. No precise rule can be laid down as to what shall be 
considered excessive or unreasonable punishment." 
Reeve's Dom. Ret., 288. 

"Each case must depend upon its own circumstances. And we 
think it equally clear that he should also take into consideration 
the mental and moral qualities of the pupi', and, as indicative of 
these, his general behavior in school and his attitude towards his~ 
teacher becomes proper subjects of consideration. 

"We think, therefore, that the court acted properly in admit- 
ting evidence of the prior and habitual misconduct of the plaintiff, 
and that ic was perfectly proper for the defendant, in chastising 
him, to consider not merely the immediate offense which had called 
for the punishment, but the past offenses that aggravated the 
present one, and showed the plaintiff to have been habitually re- 
fractory and disobedient. Nor was it necessary that the teacher- 



SCHOOL LAWS. 65 

should, at the time of inflicting the punishment, remind the pupil 
of his past and accumulating offenses. The pupil knew them well 
enough without having them freshly brought to his notice." 
Shelton v. Sturgess, 53 Conn., 481. 

If a pupil who is of age attends school, she submits herself to 
all the rules of the school and to like discipline with those pupils 
who are under age. ' 

State V. Mizner, 45 la., 248. 

The same rule holds if the pupil is over twenty- one years of 
age and attends the school by consent of the directors. 
Stevens v. Fassett, 27 Me., 266. 

In Peck V. Smith, 41 Conn., 442, the judge held that a member 
of a school board may eject a pupil from the school house for in- 
sulting conduct towards him : 

"The defendant, being at the school house performing certain 
duties connected with the school, called the attention of the plain- 
tiff to certain acts, not specially culpable in character, which he 
acknowledged he had committed. His bearing and manner were 
insolent and offensive, and the language in which he indulged was 
grossly profane. Such language, reprehensible at all times, should 
not have been allowed to pass with impunity from a school boy of 
the older class, within the walls of a school house, in the presence 
and hearing of younger pupils. After being told to leave he so 
conducted himself that it was proper to remove him, no%unneces- 
sary force being used to attain that object. 

"It may be proper to observe, however, that public sentiment 
does not now tolerate such corporal punishment of pupils as was 
formerly thought permissible and even necessary." 
1 Cooley^s Blackstone, 453. 

Rules which should control the teacher in inflicting punish- 
ment. The opinions of the highest judicial tribunals and eminent 
jurists concur in respect to the propriety and necessity of granting 
school teachers authority to inflict corporal punishment in certain 
cases, and of protection to them in the prudent and reasonable ex- 
ercise of such authority either to promote the welfare of the child 
or the welfare of the whole school. Teachers are, however, held 
to a just accountability for the abuse of the power conferred. The 
decisions cited relate to punishments with the rod, ferule, etc., but 
the rule of discretion and accountability is the same for all other 
forms of punishment. Without doubt the best teachers do, as a 
general rule, use the rod least, because they have a more perfect 
personal discipline, and command a wider range of mental and 
moral resources from which to draw in dealing with the wayward 
and erring; and because they have, by nature, the faculty of deal- 
ing easily and successfully with youth. It may be that if we all 
were wise enough, some other remedy might be found in every 
case; I cannot say. But it is quite certain that, so far as we can 
■judge of cause and effect, cases arise at one time or another in the 
experience of most teachers, when the timely and judicious inflic- 
tion of corporal punishment seems, both at the time and afterwards, 
the wisest and best thing that could be done. Certain it is, also 
that castigation with the rod is often less cruel than sharp words, 
tones of irony, sarcasm or invective, and less humiliating and harm- 
ful than some of the substitutes therefor. 

Illinois School Laws and Decisions. 

Sec. 7061. They may permit older persons to at- 
tend the school under such regulations as they may 
deem proper. Ih., part sec. 76. s-s 



66 SCHOOL LAWS. 

Sec. 7062. The county court shall have power, 
upon the petition of any person residing in any par- 
ticular school district, to transfer the children or wards 
of such person, for educational purposes, to an adjoin- 
ing district in the same county, or to an adjoining dis- 
trict in an adjoing county; Provided, Said petitioner 
shall state under oath that the transfer is for school 
purposes alone. Provided, furtJier, Where a number 
of colored children or wards, not exceeding ten, reside 
in a particular school district, the county court shall 
have power, upon petition of any person, to transfer 
said colored children or wards of such person to an ad- 
joining district in the same county, or an adjoining 
district in an adjoining county; and, also, where a 
number of white children or wards, not exceeding ten, 
reside in a particular school district, the county court 
shall have power, upon the petition of any person, to 
transfer said white children or wards of such person t® 
an adjoining district in the same county, or an adjoin- 
ing district in an adjoining county; and said transfers 
under the last named proviso shall not destroy the 
legality of such school districts, although the number 
of children be reduced to a number less than thirty-five 
persons of scholastic age; and said petitioner shall at 
once notify the county examiner of the county or coun- 
ties and the directors of both districts. Act April 3, 
1891. See sec. 6988. 

It must be remembered that the right is a personal one and 
reaches no further than the children or wards of the person asking 
it. It does not transfer the tenants of the person nor any one living 
upon his estate. Tenants are not serfs arid may not be transferred 
nolens volens upon the petition of the landlord. 

The transfer can only be made to adjoining districts. The prac- 
tice of transferring to distant districts not adjoining, is pernicious 
and unlawful. 

Sec. 7063. The directors of the district to which 
such children have been transferred, at the time of the 
enumeration shall include such children m the district 
to which they have been transferred, and they shall not 
be enumerated in the district where they reside. The 
district school tax of such person shall be added to the 
school revenues of the district to which he has been 
transferred and shall not be included in the school reve- 
nues of the district where he resides. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 67 

A transfer into a new district places the children and all the taxes 
for school purposes of the party transferred in the district to which 
said party transfers. The party thus transferred can vote and hold 
office in said dictrict, provided said party is not transferred out of 
his own county. See following section. 

Sec. 7064. Any person who transfers his child, 
children or wards and property to any district for edu- 
cational purposes, shall have the same right to vote in 
said district for directors and tax as other electors have 
of the district to which he is so transferred. Where 
such person is transferred to a district out of his county, 
the county treasurer of the county wherein he resides, 
shall open an account with the district to which he is 
transferred, and his school taxes shall be credited to 
the same and paid on the warrants of the directors of 
the district to which he is transferred. Provided, Any 
person transferring his property and children to an ad- 
joining district, for educational purposes, shail have 
the right, after having been transferred, or residing 
therein for thirty days previous to said election, and 
within the state for one year and in the county six 
months, and who has paid his poll tax, to vote in said 
school district, and in no other for director's or tax at 
said school elections, but said person or persons shall 
not have the right to vote for directors or tax out of his 
county. Act Dec. 7, 1875, sec. 76, as amended by act 
Jan. 10, 1897, sec. 2. 

Sec. 7065. The directors may permit a private 
school to be taught in the district school house during 
such time as the said house is not occupied by a public 
school, unless they be otherwise directed by a majority 
of the legal voters of the district. Act Becemher. 7. 
1875, sec. 77. 

Sec. 7066. The directors shall cause the public 
schools in their districts to be closed on the days ap- 
pointed for public examination of teachers in their 
countj^, and also cause the said school to be closed dur- 
ing the session of the teachers' institute. Provided, 
Said schools shall not be closed for a greater length of 
time than five days during any one session of not more 
than five months. Act. March 27, 1885. 

By Act XXVII, approved March 5, 1895, so much of this section as 
relates to public examinations is repealed. Teachers are not now 
required to attend examinations unless they desire to obtain license 
to teach. No examination and institute can be held at the same 



68 SCHOOL LAWS. 

time. Teachers are required to attend an institute of one week: 
each year and cannot be chargad for loss of time while attending. 
See sec. 7073. 

Sec. 7067. Directors and county examiners shall be 
exempt from working on roads and highways. Act 
Becemlter 7, 1875, sees. 77-79, as amended by act Marcli 
23, 1S91. 

Sec. 7068. Any director or other person whose- 
duty it may become to report to the county court the 
per cent, of tax levied by any school district at an an- 
nual meeting, and who shall neglect or refuse to do so 
in the manner and at the time provided by law, shall 
be liable for all loss which may be sustained by such 
failure and for all costs, and shall be fined not less than 
ten nor more than fifty dollars. 

Sec. 7069. Within fifteen days after any special 
tax shall be voted by a school district at an annual 
meeting, it shall be the duty of the directors to furnish 
the county clerk with a certified list of all persons own- 
ing property in the district liable to pay such special 
tax. 

Sec. 7070. Any person whose duty it is to execute 
sections 7046, 7069 or 7084, and who shall fail to do so, 
shall be fined not less than ten nor more than fifty dol- 
lars, and the same shall be paid into the county treas- 
ury. Act March 11, 1881, sees. 1, 3 and 9. 

teachees. 

Sec. 7071. Any person who shall teach in a com- 
mon school in this state, without a certificate of his 
qualification and his license to teach, shall not be en- 
titled to receive for such seiwices any compensation 
from revenues raised by tax or in any wise appropriated 
for the support of common schools; Provided, If his 
license expire by limitation during any school, such ex- 
piration shall not have the effect to interrupt his school, 
or to debar his claim against school revenues for the 
payment of teacher's wages. 

The right to teach is based upon an approved examination be- 
fore a state officer. Every teacher must show a certificate or not 
receive state revenue. This includes all assistants. The ass stant 
is a teacher and can only receive compensation lawfully through the 
directors. No principal can draw a lump salary from the school 
revenues to pay for either licensed or unlicensed assistants. Each 
teacher must have a separate contract and draw his separate com- 
pensation. The treasurer is warranted in demanding the license- 



SCHOOL LAWS. 69 

and the contract before paying any warrant; and if such contract 
discloses the fact that the warrant is drawn to cover the salary of 
an unlicensed teacher, it should not be paid. See sections 7052, 7051 
and 7043. 

The teacher must have a living license on the day he begins the 
actual work of teaching. Having begun his school lawfully he may 
finish it, although his license expires before the end of his term. 
This, however, does not preclude the board of directors from de- 
manding of each applicant a license which shall cover the entire 
term provided for in the contract. 

The district is entitled to the services of a teacher qualified un- 
der the law and no act of the directors can bind the district to pay 
lor the services of an incompetent man. 

Deval V. School District No. 5, Michigan Supreme Court 
Reports, 1889. 
As elsewhere stated, all funds collected from taxes levied by 
school directors, must be held subject to and paid out upon the or- 
ders of the directors of the district. But the orders on such tax 
funds must be for the payment of debts legally contracted and no 
others. Hence a board of directors cannot use any portion of such 
special district taxes to pay a teacher who taught without having 
the necessary certificate of qualifications. Directors are empow- 
ered to levy taxes for the sole purpose of supporting or ^tending 
the terms of such schools, and such only as the law contemplates. 
But the law does not contemplate or in any manner recognize, 
schools taught by teachers who have no certificates, and no public 
or special tax fund can, therefore, be used to pay any of the ex- 
penses of schools so taught. Any other interpretation of the statute 
would be absurd, because if the directors may ignore every other 
provision in respect to certificates, they may ignore every other 
provision of the act, and levy taxes to pay the teachers of writing 
schools, singing schools, or any other description of schools, how- 
iever unlike they may be to the public schools provided for in the 
statute. 

Casey v. Baldridge, 15 III., 65. 

Wells V. People, 71 III., 532. 

Directors who pay a teacher who has not a certificate are per- 
sonally liable for the loss of school funds through their misuse of 
them. The school taught by a teacher without a certificate is not a 
legal school ; and if, on that account, the district loses its share of 
funds distributed by the trustees, the directors are fur; her liable 
personally for such loss. They are also liable to a fine for a failure 
to perform their duty under the law. 

If directors employ a teacher who has not a certificate, as re- 
quired by law, and the treasurer knows the fact, even if the directors 
certify to his schedule, the treasurer can not pay it. It would be a 
case of open violation "of a positive requirement of the law, and 
should not be overlooked. Known and palpable fraud always 
vitiates. 

Any interested tax payer may enjoin the payment of a teacher 
who has no certificate, or may stop the payment of a judgment in 
favor of such teacher, if obtained by collusion with the directors. 
Barr. v. Deniton, 19 N. H., 170. 
Noble V. Directors, 117 III., 30. 

If a teacher teaches for a while without a certificate and then 
;gets one, the directors cannot pay for the time taught without a 
■certificate. Neither can they pay him indirectly for such time by 
Mring him over at an advance in salary sufficient to make up for 



70 SCHOOL LAWS. 

the time taught before he got a certificate. PubUc officers must 
not do indirectly what the law forbids them to do directly. 

Wells V. People, 71 III., 532. 

Substitutes and assistants must have certificates. The teacher 
employed as a substitute for however short a time, must have a 
certificate of quahfication, make a schedule, and comply with all 
other requirements of the law, or the public funds can not be used 
in payment of temporary services so rendered. One teacher can 
not receive wages on the certificate of another, or in the name of 
another teacher. 

All assistant teachers, special teachers of writing, etc., included^ 
in the public schools, must have certificates of qualification from 
the county examiner — there is no exception to the emphatic re- 
quirements of the law in respect to certificates. 

This opinion is grounded upon the plain object of the legislature 
in requiring teachers to possess certificates; which can be none 
other than to secure the employment of teachers of approved 
character and ability— a consideration of quite as much moment 
in the case of assistant teachers, as any other. 

It is held that the superinteddent of city and village schools be- 
longs to the teaching force, and should, therefore, have a certificate 
of qualification in order that he may draw his pay. 

When the directors persist, in violation of law, in retaining a 
teacher who does not hold a certificate, any tax-payer or patron of 
the school would be entitled to an injunction to restrain the teacher 
or board from continuing the school. The county superintendent 
can not take out an injunction in such a case. 
Perkins v. Wolf, 17 la., 228. 
Barr v. Deniston, 19 N. H., 170. 

Sec. 7072. Every teacher shall keep a daily register 
of his school in the manner prescribed by law, and in- 
dicated by the blank school register to be furnished by 
the directors at the commencement of the school. 

Directors can not make the reports required by law without tha 
information contained in this register, and they should exact rigidly 
a compliance with the requirements of this section. No teacher 
who refuses to comply with law or who is unable to comply there- 
with should be retained as a teacher, and the proper steps should 
be taken at once to revoke his license. 

Directors must not draw warrant for last month's salary until this; 
register is completed for the term. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 71 

ACT XXVII. 

Sec. 7073. An act to amend section 7073 of San- 
dels & Hill's Digest. 

Sbotion 

1. Only teachers to be examined for position in public schools 

of any county required to attend examinations in county. 

2. Teachers in public schools shall attend county normal once 

a year. 

3. Normal institute and quarterly examination shall not be held 
at the same time. 

4. No teacher attending either shall be charged with loss of time. 

Be it enacted hy the General Assembly oj the State of 
Arkansas : 

That section seven thousand and seventy three of 
Sandels & Hill's Digest be amended so as to read as 
follows : 

Section 1 . It shall be the duty of only such %achers 
as desire to be examined for license to teach in the pub- 
lic schools of any county to attend any public examina- 
tion for teachers of said county. 

Sec. 2. It shall be the duty of all the teachers of the 
public schools to attend one institute annually, which 
s.hall be held by the county examiner, after having 
given twenty days' notice of the time and place of the 
institute in the same manner as is now required by law 
for quarterly examinations. 

Sec. 3. No institute and quarterly examination 
shall be held at the same time. 

Sec. 4. No teacher, when attending a quarterly ex- 
amination, or an institute, shall be charged for loss of 
time while necessarily absent from his school to attend 
such examination or institute. 

Approved March 5, 1895. 

There is no way to avoid this duty, nor is it lawful for directors to 
encourage teachers in a wilful violation of law. It is still worse 
when they try to force teachers to do this by reservations in the 
contract. No teacher is bound by any contract which requires him 
to violate the law. 

Teachers must attend these institutes. This law only excuses 
them from the examinations while they hold certificates. 

Sec. 7074. No teacher employed in any of the com- 
mon schools shall permit sectarian books to be used ass 
ft reading or text-book in the school under his care. 



72 SCHOOL LAWS. 

The law leaves the discretion of reading or not reading the Bible 
with th i school boards, and the courts have uniformly refused to 
restrain, coerce or interfere with this discretion. 

Board of Education of Cincinnati v. Minor, 23 Ohio Stat. 
211. 

McCormick v. Burt , Northwestern Reporter, Illinois Sup- 
plement, Vol. 1, p. 340. 

The use of any version of the Bible as a text-book in the public 
schools, and the stated reading thereof in such schools by the teach- 
ers, without restriction, although unaccompanied by any comment, 
was held by the supreme court of Wisconsin in State v. Board of 
Education {76 Wis., 177), as having a tendency to inculcate sec- 
tarian ideas, and such use enjoined. 

It was held however that text-books founded upon the funda- 
mental teachings of the Bible, or which contain extracts therefrom, 
and such portions of the Bible as are not sectarian, might be used 
in the secular instruction of the pupils and to inculcate good morals. 

This is the latest legal deliverances upon this important subject 
and deserves the most careful study of all educators. 

Sec. 7075. Any teacher who shall have complied 
with the provisions of this act shall be paid from the 
first money received into the county treasury to the 
credit of the district ; and his claim shall not be super- 
seded by any subsequent claim {u) ; and no money in 
the county treasury belonging to any district shall, so 
long as there is any such claim filed against the said 
district, be applied to any purposes whatever other than 
the payment of teachers' wages. Act December 7, 1875, 
sees. 80-84. 

Sec. 7076. No teacher shall be entitled to the last 
month's pay for any school taught by him until he 
shall have returned to the directors of the district in 
which such school was taught the daily register fur- 
nished him, with all statistical work which teachers are 
by law required to perform, perfected and complete, 
and no director shall otherwise issue an order for such 
last month's pay. Act. March 11, 1881, sec. 4. 

TEESPASS ON SCHOOL HOUSES, ETC. 

Sec. 7077. Any person who shal Iwilfully destroy or 
injure any building used as a school house, or for other 
educational purposes, or any furniture, fixtures or ap- 
paratus thereto belonging, or who shall deface, mar or 
disfigure any such building, furniture or fixtures, by 
writing, cutting, painting or pasting thereon any like- 
ness, figure, words or device, without the consent of the 

(u.) See sec. 70S1. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 73 

teacher or other person having control of such house, 
furniture or fixtures shall be fined in a sum double the 
value of any such building, furniture, fixtures or ap- 
paratus so destroyed, and shall be fined in a sum not 
less ten nor more than fifty dollars for each offense for 
writing, painting, cutting or pasting in any such build- 
ing, furniture or fixtures any such words, figures, like- 
ness or device, to be recovered by civil action in any 
court of competent jurisdiction; and the punishment 
provided in this section is in addition to, and not in 
lieu of, the punishment provided by the statutes for 
such offenses {v). Act. December 7, 1875, sec. 86. 

SCHOOL WAKKANTS {iv) — DISBUESEMENTS OF FUNDS, ETC. 

Sec. 7078. It shall be unlawful for county collec- 
tors and treasurers to purchase or otherwise be the own- 
ers of or interested, directly or indirectly, in any schoo 
warrant issued by any school director of the q^unt}'^ in 
which they reside. 

Sec. 7079. The district school tax in each county 
may be payable and receivable in the warrants drawn 
by the directors of the school district in which a school 
tax may be levied by the county court. 

Sec. 7080. It shall be the duty of the. county treas- 
urer of each county to keep in his office a suitable and 
well bound book, in which he shall register by number 
and in the order of presentation all direct school war- 
rants that may be presented to him ; this registration to 
be made before the warrant is paid, and it shall show 
the date of presentation of the warrant, by whom 
drawn, on what district and in whose favor, and for 
what purpose drawn, the amount and date of the war- 
rant, date of payment, and to whom paid; and said 
book shall at all times be subject to the inspection of 
any tax-payer {x). 

Sec. 7081. It shall be the duty of the county treas- 
urers, immediately upon the receipt by them of any 
school funds, to give notice of the amount and kind of 

(v.) For an offense committed by insulting a teacher in the 
presence of his pupils, see sec. 1539. For cutting, writing upon or 
defacing school houses, see sec. 1794. For disturbing schools, see 
.sec. 1798. 

(w.) The statute of limitations runs on school warrants. Schoo 
District V. Croomer, 52-454; School District v. Reeve, 56-68. 

(x.) The legislature may relieve the treasurer and his bondsmen 
from liability for school funds. Pearson v. State, 56-148. 



74 SCHOOL LAWS. 

funds received, and from what source received, by writ- 
ten or printed notices put up in two public places in 
each and every school district and at the court house 
door, and the funds so received shall be paid out p7'0 
rata on the warrants rep^istered in accordance with the 
provisions of the preceding section (y). Provided, Ap- 
plication for such payment is made within thirty days 
from the giving of the notice herein required. 

Sec. 7082. Any officer failing to comply with the 
requirements of this act for each and every offense, 
shall be subject to indictment, and, if found guilty, 
shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred 
dollars and by confinement in the penitentiary of the 
state for a period not less than three nor more than 
twelve months. 

Sec. 7083. Any director who shall fraudulently is- 
sue any school warrant shall be guilty of a misde- 
meanor, and, upon conviction, shall be subject to tho 
penalties enumerated in the preceding section. Act 
May 27, 1874. 

Sec. 7084. The county treasurer shall, on or before 
the first day of September each year, forward to the 
superintendent of public instruction a certified state 
ment showing the amount, in kind, of public school 
funds received by him ; from what sources they were 
received ; how and for what purposes they have been 
disbursed, and what amount, in kind, remains in the 
treasury. Act March 11, 1881, sec. 8. 

Sec. 7085. The order of any board of directors^ 
properly drawn after the passage of this act, other than 
those of single school districts in cities and towns, shall 
be presented to the treasurer of the proper county with- 
in sixty days after it was drawn by the said board of 
directors. All such orders shall be paid in the order of 
their presentation {b). Act March 21, 1885, sec. 1. 

Sec. 7086. If there are no funds with which to pay 
such order, the treasurer shall endorse the same: "Not 
paid for want of funds," giving the date and signing 
his name officially. ^ He shall number and record each 
warrant in the book provided for such purpose, keep- 
ing a separate record for each district, and shall pay 

(y). See sec. 6993. 

(z.) See School District v Eeeve, ,56-68. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 75 

said warrants in the order of their number. Act March 
21, 1885, sec. 2. 

Opinion of Attorney General Kinsworthy. See index. 

TIOLATION OF SCHOOL LAWS — DUTY OF PROSECUTING AT- 
TORNEYS. 

Sec. 7087. The prosecuting attorney of each judicial 
district shall, upon being satisfied that any violation of 
the school laws of this state has been committed by any 
officer or person, in any county of his district, which 
renders such officer or person so offending liable to any 
fine, pain, penalty or forfeiture for damage, without 
delay, institute in any court of competent jurisdiction 
such proceedings as are necessary to bring such offender 
to trial, and secure to the county school district, or 
person damaged by such violation, the benefits and re- 
liefs to which each or any of them may be entitied ; and 
for such services the prosecuting attorney shall be al- 
lowed the same compensation as he is allowed in cases 
of misdemeanor, which shall be assessed against such 
offender as cost. Act March 11, 1881, sec. 10. 

SPECIAL ACT FOR THE REGULATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN 
CITIES AND TOWNS. 

Sec. 7088. Any incorporated city or town in this 
state, including the territory annexed thereto for school 
purposes, may be organized into and established as a 
single school district in the manner and with the powers 
hereinafter specified. Act February 4, 1869, sec. 1. 

In the case of Beavers v. State, 60 Ark., 124, it is held that the 
territory, which was included with the incorporated city or town in 
a common school district prior to its formation into a single school 
district, is not by the act or organization included therein, and can 
only be so included by annexation as provided for in section 7113. 

Sec. 7089. Upon the written petition of twenty 
voters of such city or town, praying that the sense of 
the legal voters of said city or town may be taken on 
the adoption of this act for the regulation and govern- 
ment of the public schools therein, it shall be the duty 
of the mayor of such city or town, within five days after 
the presentation of such petition, to designate and fix 
a day, not less than seven nor more than fifteen days 
distant, for holding an election in said city or town for 
that purpose and also for the election by ballot, at the 



76 SCHOOL LAWS. 

same time, of a board of six school directors for said 
city or town. 

Sec. 7090. The mayor shall cause notice of said 
election to be given by posting notices in at least five 
public places in said city or town, and by one insertion 
in such newspapers as may be published in said city or 
town. The electors of said election desiring to vote in 
favor of the adoption of this act shall have written or 
printed on their ballots, "For the school law," and 
those opposed thereto shall have written or printed on 
their ballots, "Against the school law;" and, if a ma- 
jority of the ballots cast at said election shall be "For 
school law," then, and in that case only, shall such city 
or town be deemed and held to be a single school dis- 
trict under and in pursuance of this act, and the direct- 
ors voted for and elected at said election shall qualify 
and enter upon the discharge of their duties as herein- 
after provided. Ih., part sec. 2, 

Sec. 7091. On the third Saturday in May, J893, 
and annually thereafter, an election shall be held at the 
usual voting place in each ward of all incorporated 
towns and cities heretofore organized into single or spe- 
cial school districts, for the election of two directors, 
who shall serve for three years, and until their suc- 
cessors are elected and qualified. The ballot of the 
voter, in addition to the names of the persons voted for 
as directors, shall have written or printed on it the 
words "for tax" or "against tax," and the rate the 
voter desires levied; Provided., In corporated towns and 
cities of the second class, the election may be held at one 
or more of the voting places therein, and not in each 
ward, if the board of directors shall so direct by notice 
posted in three public places in said city or town ten 
days before the election designating the place or places 
at which said election shall be held. 

Sec. 7092. Said election shall be held by the 
judges appointed to hold the municipal elections in 
said city or town next preceding the said election, for 
the ward or wards in which said election may be held. 
The judges at each voting place shall appoint two 
clerks, and each judge and clerk shall take the oath re- 
quired by law, and shall receive for their services the 
sum of one dollar each, to be paid out of the school 



SCHOOL LAWS. 77 

fund of the district on the order of the board of direct- 
ors. 

The four preceding sections are to determine whether the spe- 
cial act for the regulation of public schools in cities and towns shall 
be adopted. They are preliminary to organization. They require 
the following modus operandi : 

1. A written petition of twenty votes asking that the sense of 
the legal voters be taken on the adoption of the act. 

2. The mayor must fix within five days from the presentation, 
of said petition a day for said election. 

3. Said election shall be not less than seven nor more than 
fifteen days from the date of the proclamation. 

4. Said election shall also determine by ballot a board of six: 
directors. f 

5. The mayor must promulgate the election notices by posting 
and by printing should there be a paper. 

6. The electors must vote by ballot and as prescribed. 

7. A majority of all the votes cast are necessary to make said 
city or town a single school district. 

The following act provides how all vacancies on boards in spe- 
cial school districts are filled: 

ACT LVI. • 

AN ACT to give notice of election in special school 
districts and fill vacancy in school board. 
Section 

1. Notice of annual election to be given fifteen days prior to 
election. How. 

2. Provides for filling vacancy on board. 

3. Repeals all laws in conflict. Act takes effect from passage. 

Be it enacted hy the General Assembly of the State of 
Arkansas : 

Section 1 . When any special school district has 
been organized as provided by law, the board of direc- 
tors shall give notice of each annual election at least 
fifteen days previous to such election, by posting 
notices in at least five public places in said district. 

Sec. 2. That if the office of director in any special 
school district shall become vacant, the remaining di- 
rectors of said district shall elect a director to fill such 
vacancy, who shall serve until the next annual election 
for school directors, at which time all vacancies shall 
be filled by the electors for the unexpired term. 

Sec. H. That all laws and parts of laws in conflict 
with this act be and are hereby repealed, and that this 
act take eJEfect and be in force from and after its 
passage. 

Approved March 26, 1895. 



78 SCHOOL LAWS. 

Sec. 7093. The judges shall cause the polls to be 
opened at 9 o'clock and closed at sunset. 

Sec. 7094. If any of the regular judges shall fail 
to appear at ten o'clock, the assembled voters, not less 
than ten in number, shall select other judges in their 
places. 

Sec. 7095. If the election shall be held in all the 
wards of the city or town, each voter shall vote in the 
ward where he resides; Provided^ Voters residing in 
any part of the district not embraced in any ward may 
vote at any place he^may deem most convenient. 

Sec. 7096. The returns of said election shall be 
made to the county clerk, who shall forthwith deliver 
a certificate of election to each of the persons elected 
directors. 

Sec. 7097. He shall also declare the result of the 
votes for and against tax, and certify the same to the 
county court on the first day of the term fixed by law 
for levying county taxes ; and the rate of taxes so certi- 
fied shall be levied by the court as other school taxes. 

Sec. 7098. Each person elected director shall 
take the oath of office within five days after receiving a 
certificate of election, which shall be filed with the 
county clerk, and thereafter during his term of office 
no further oath nor affidavit shall be required of him 
in the discharge of his official duties. 

Sec. 7099. The provisions of chapter Ivii shall 
have no applicatioD to the elections herein provided 
for. Act April 10, 1893, sees'. 1-7. 

Sec. 7100. Said board of directors shall organize 
by choosing from their own number a president and sec- 
retary, who shall hold their offices until the last Satur- 
day in May, and annually, on that day, said board shall 
meet and elect from their number a president and sec- 
retary. Aet March 21, 1895, see. 2. 

Sec. 7101. Said board of directors shall hold a reg- 
ular meeting on the last Saturday in each month, and 
may hold stated meetings at such other times and 
places in said district as they may appoint; four mem- 
bers of said board shall constitute a quorum, but a less 
number may adjourn from time to time; special meet- 
ings thereof mav be called by the president, or by any 
two members of the board, on giving one day's notice 



SCHOOL LAWS. , 79 

of the time and place of the same, and, in case of the 
absence of the president, a president pro tempore shall 
be chosen. The office of any member of said board, as 
such, who shall, without good cause, fail to attend 
three consecutive monthly or stated meetings of said 
board, may be declared vacant by the board. The 
board may make rules and regulations for their own 
government and for the dispatch and regulation of the 
school business and the affairs of the district, not in- 
consistent with law. Act Fehruary 4, 1869, sec. 4. 

Sec. 7102. Said board of directors shall have power 
to purchase or lease school house sites, to build, hire or 
purchase school houses, and to keep in repair and fur- 
nish the same with the necessary seats, desks, furniture, 
fixtures and fuel, and to insure the same ; to fence the 
school grounds, erect out-houses, provide wells, and 
make all other improvements on the school house 
grounds and school houses belonging to said'^istrict 
necessary and proper for the comfort, convenience and 
health of the scholars, and the preservation of said 
property ; to hire teachers for all public schools of the 
district (aa), employ a superintendent of schools (bb), 
who may also be principal of any graded or high school 
that said board may establish ; to provide books and 
apparatus for the schools, and the necessary blank 
books and stationery for the board, and school regis- 
ters and the blanks for the teachers ; to establish and 
maintain a sufficient number of primary, graded or 
high schools to accommodate all the scholars in said 
district (cc) ; to determine the branches to be taught 
and the text-books to be used in the several schools of 
the district (dd); to admit pupils not belonging to the 
district on such terms as they may agree upon with the 
parents or guardians of said pupils, or the district from 
whence the}^ came ; to appoint a board of three visitors 

(aa.) See School District v, Maury, 53-571. 

(65.) The power to employ a superintendent is not limited to the 
term of office of the board. Gates v. School District, 53-468. 

In a suit for salary after unlawful discharge, for liability of board 
and measure of damages, see Gates v. School Distrtct, 57-370. 

(cc.) But no tax for any purpose can now be levied by the 
county court without a vote of the electors of the district. Article 
14, sec. 3, Const.; Cole v. Blackwell, 38-271. 

(dd.) See sees. 6975, 7046. 



80 SCHOOL LAWS. 

and examiners for the schools of the district, which 
board shall examine persons applying to teach in any of 
the schools of said district; Provided, No teacher shall 
be employed who does not hold a certificate from the 
state superintendent or count}^ examiner; to examine, 
from time to time, the books and accounts of the 
county treasurer, so far as the same relate to the several 
school funds belonging to the district; and when, in 
the opinion of a majority of the members of said board, 
the best interests of the district demand a sale or ex- 
change of an}" real estate or school house site belonging 
to the district, they may sell or exchange the same, the 
deed therefor to be executed by the president of the 
board upon a majority vote of the whole board of di- 
rectors authorizing and directing such sale or exchange. 
lb., sec. 5. 

This section does not authorize the directors to substitute their 
examination for that of the examiner. The examiner's rights are 
superior to those of the directors'. He should examine under his 
oath, and license or refuse to hcense as his judgment decides, and 
is not accountable to any board of directors. Nor should he hold 
his examination in connection with the examination of the board. 
His work should be entirely separate from their work. They have 
the right to examine, but not to interfere in any particular with the 
examiner's work. Any regulation of the board of directors which, 
requires the examiner's certificate to be granted only after an exam- 
ination of city teachers in the presence of examiners appointed by 
the board is absolutely nugatory so far as the county examiner is 
concerned. His exarninations should be separate from and entirelj' 
free from supervision of city examiners. 

EXACTION OF FEES. 

Under the constitution of Georgia, providing that public schools 
shall be free to all children, a municipal public school established 
under a local act cannot exact incidental fees from resident scholars. 

Irmn v. Gregory, 86 Ga., 605. 

The following opinion of the attorney general should be care- 
fully considered: 

''In answer to your inquiries, I have the honor to say that, in 
my opinion, section 7043 applies as well to special or single school 
districts as to ordinary common school districts. 

"I am also of the opinion that it applies to the superintendent 
of schools m such special districts, pro^dded he is to act as a 
teacher; otherwise not. 

"I am also of the opinion that said section is mandatory upon 
th? directors; but I do not believe, nor mean to be understood as 
saying, that a verbal contract made with a qualified teacher would 
be void because not in writing." 

The following decision of the supreme court interprets the law 
verv clearlv: 



SCHOOL LAWS. 81 

REMOVAL OF A TEACHER FOR INCOMPETENCY. 

Under sections 7102 and 7103, which enjoin the board of school 
directors to hire suitable teachers; to enforce all necessary rules 
for the government of teachers and pupils ; and to visit the schools 
and observe the discipline and progress of the pupils, the board 
has the power to remove a teacher for incompetency and for im- 
morality; and tie fact that the teacher has been duly licensed by 
the county examiner, and that the latter has failed to revoke the 
license as he is empowered to do by section 7013, is not conclusive 
on the board as to competency or morality of the teacher. 
See Dist. of Fort Smith v. Mansy, 53 Ark., 471. 

The fact that the board has tolerated the teacher's misconduct 
and ineflSciency for a time does not operate as a waiver of its right 
to discharge him therefor, as the teacher's undertaking to perform 
his duty in a moral and skilful manner is assumed for the benefit of 
the school, its pupils, and patrons, and not for the benefit of the 
board. 

School District of Fort Smith v. Mansy. 53 Ark., 471. 

The following decision is so sound that it is introduced here as 
a guide to directors of this state : 

"Non-residents. In a local statute authorizing the establish- 
ment of public schools in a town, a provision that the local board 
may admit pupils not residents of the town on such terms as the 
board may prescribe terms which would cast upon the to\lhi or its 
inhabitants any part of the expense of educating non-resident pu- 
pils. Such pupils cannot be received at a less rate per scholar than 
the inhabitants of the town pay by taxation for their children, nor 
can they be received at all to the exclusion of resident children who 
would otherwise attend." 

Irvinv. Gregory, 86 Ga., 605. 

Sec. 710H. It shall be the duty of said board, 
as soon as the means for that purpose can be pro- 
vided, to establish in said district an adeqate num- 
ber of primary schools, so located as best to accommo- 
date the inhabitants thereof; and it shall be the fur- 
ther duty of said board to establish in said district a 
suitable number of other schools of a higher grade or 
grades, wherein instruction shall be given in such 
studies as may not be provided for in the primaiy 
schools; the number of schools, the grades thereof, 
and the branches to be taught in each and all of said 
schools to be determined by said board. It shall be 
the duty of said board to keep said schools in operation 
not less than three nor more than ten months in each 
year. The said board shall have f>ower to make and 
enforce all necessary rules and regulations for the gov- 
ernment of teachers and pupils in said schools. Said 
board shall also, separately or collectively, together 
with such persons as they may appoint or invite, visit 
the schools in the district at least twice in each year, 

S— 6 



82 SCHOOL LAWS. 

and observe the discipline, mode of teaching, progress 
of the pupils, and see that the teachers keep a correct 
register of the pupils, embracing the periods of time 
during which they attend school, the branches taught, 
and such other matters as may be required by law or 
by the instructious of the state superintendent. Ih., 
sec. 6. 

Sec. 7104. No draft oi' warrant shall be drawn 
on the county treasurer, except in pursuance of an 
order of said board ; all drafts or warrants on the treas- 
urer shall be signed by the president, or president jjro 
tempore, and the secretary, and shall specify the fund 
on which they are drawn and the use for which the 
money is assigned. Ih., sec. 8. 

Sec. 7105. The secretary shall record all the pro- 
ceedings of the board in books kept for that purpose ; 
shall make and preserve copies of all reports required 
by law to be made to the state superintendent of public 
instruction or county examiner; shall file all papers 
transmitted to him pertaining to the business of the 
district; shall make, or cause to be made, the annual 
enumeration of the youth of the district in the time 
and manner required by law of school directors, and 
shall perform such other duties as the board of direc- 
tors may order and direct; and for his services may be 
allowed reasonable compensation, to be audited and al- 
lowed by a majority of said board. The other mem- 
bers of said board shall receive no compensation for 
their services. lb , sec. 9. 

Sec. 7106. The title of all real estate and other 
property belonging, for school purposes, to any city or 
town organized into a separate school district under 
this act, shall vest, and hereby is vested, in said city or 
town, as a school district, and shall be under the man- 
agement and control of the board of school directors 
for said district as fully and completely as other school 
property belonging to said district. Ih., sec. 10. 

Sec. 7107. All school districts formed under and 
governed by this act shall be known by the name of 
the city or town constituting the district, with the 
words "School District of" prefixed thereto fas, for 
example, "School District of Little Rock"); and by 
such name, may sue and be sued, contract and be con- 



SCHOOL LAWS. 83 

tracted with, purchase, acquire, hold and sell property, 
receive gifts, grants and bequests, and generally shall 
possess and enjoy all the corporate powers usually 
possessed by bodies corporate of like character. The 
style of the board of directors for school districts under 
this act shall be "Board of School Directors." lb., 
sec. 11. 

Sec. 7108. The board of school directors of any 
district organized under this act shall pay and discharge 
all debts and liabilities lawfully incurred by the several 
school districts existing under previous law and em- 
braced in the district organized under this act. lb., 
sec. 12. 

Sec. 7109. Any person elected a director under 
the provisions of this act who shall fail to take the oath 
of office and qualify as herein required, or who, after 
qualifying as such director, shall fail to perforin and 
discharge the official duties incumbent upon him as a 
director, shall be liable to the same penalties that now 
are or may be hereafter provided by law against direct- 
ors of school districts for failing or refusing to qualify, 
or for neglect of official duty. lb., sec. 13. 

Sec. 7110. The board of directors may fix the 
term of office and define the duties of the board of visi- 
tors and examiners of the public schools in their dis- 
trict, and any person appointed by the board of direct- 
ors a member of said board of visitors and examiners 
who shall refuse to act as such, and discharge the du- 
ties pertaining to such position, shall forfeit and pay to 
said district the sum of tw^enty-five dollars, to be re- 
covered in civil action in the name of said district, and 
added to the terchers' fund belonging to said district. 
Provided, No person shall be compelled to serve in that 
capacity more than three consecutive years. Said 
board of visitors and examifiers shall receive no com- 
pensation for their services. lb., sec. 14. 

Sec. 711] . All school districts organized under 
this act shall have and receive their full proportion and 
distributive share of the general school fund of the 
state, in the same manner and according to the same 
rule as it is or may be apportioned to other districts. 
lb.\ sec. 15. 



84 SCHOOL LAWS. 

Sec. 7112. It shall be the duty of the state super- 
intendent and county examiners to make such suggest- 
ions and recommendations to the board of directors in 
relation to organizing and conducting the public schools 
in the districts organized under this act as they shall 
deem important. 

Sec. 7113. The provisions of the general school 
laws of the state which are now or may hereafter be in 
force, when not inapplicable, and so far as the same are 
not inconsistent with and repugnant to the provisions 
of this act, shall apply to districts organized under this 
act; and such provisions of said laws are inconsistent 
with and repugnant to the provisions of this act and 
inapplicable to districts organized thereunder, shall 
have no operation, force or effect in such districts. 
The county court shall annex contiguous territory to 
single school districts under the provisions of this act, 
when a majority of the legal voters of said territory 
and the board of directors of said single district shall 
ask, by petition, that the same shall be done. lb., sees.. 
16 and 17. 

II— SCHOOL LANDS (ee), 

Sec. 7114. Whenever the inhabitants of any con- 
gressional township in this state shall desire the sale of 
che sixteenth section of such township, or of any lands 
substituted therefor, or any which have been or may be 
mortgaged to the state of Arkrnsas for the use of the 
school fund, which after foreclosure and sale have been 
stricken off to the state of Arkansas; they may, by 
written petition, signed by a majority of the male in- 
habitants of such township, require the collector of 
taxes of the county wherein such land is situated to sell 
the same. Aet April 14, 18.93. 

Sec. 7115. Upon the reception of such petition, 
the collector shall ascertain that it is signed by a ma- 
jority of the male inhabitants of such township and shall 

(ee.) Directors can confer no authority to cut timber on school 
lands, and one who does so by their authority, under an agreement 
with them to pay the value, commits a trespass for which he may 
be sued by the state. Widner v. State, 49-172. The legal title to 
school lands is in the state, and a school district can not maintain 
an action for such lands. lb.; School District v. Driver, 50-346.. 
See State v. Morgan, 52-150. 



SCHOOL LAWS. Hs 

immediately proceedto divide the landinto40-acre tracts, 
and after making such division, a statement or plat of 
same and a number of each tract shall be made so that 
the boundaries may be defined and ascertained, which 
statement or plat of the sections shall be used as a guide 
in advertising and selling said lands. Provided, The 
collector may, when necessity requires it, call the 
county surveyor of his county to assist in such surve}^ 
and division, and he shall be allowed and paid out of 
the funds arising from the sale of such school lands by 
said collector such compensation as he is allowed by 
law for similar services, and the receipts of such sur- 
veyor to said collector shall be a sufficient voucher for 
the money so paid. 

Sec. 7116. In subdividing the sixteenth section 
lands for sale, no tract shall contain more than forty 
acres, and the division may be made into towng^r city 
lots with roads, streets or alleys between them. 

Sec. 7117. The collector shall cause each tract or 
sub-division of such school land to be appraised at a 
fair value by three disinterested householders of the 
county, each of whom shall take an oath which shall be 
indorsed upon the appraisement that he does not de- 
sire or intend to buy said land or any part thereof, and 
that he will not directly or indirectly be or become in- 
terested in the purchase thereof at the sale to be made 
by the collector ; such appraisement shall be returned 
to the collector. 

Sec. 7118. The collector shall then give notice 
that he will sell said school lands at the court house 
door of the county on the first day of the next term of 
the county court upon the terms prescribed by law. 
such notice shall be published in some newspaper pub- 
lished in the county where the land is situated at least 
four weeks before the day of sale. If there be no news- 
paper X3ublished in said county, then the collector shall 
post up written notices in at least six of the most public 
places of the county four weeks before the day of sale. 

The collector shall also in either case put up a copy 
of the notice upon the school house situated on the land, 
if there be one thereon ; if not, at the most public place 
on the land. 



86 SCHOOL LAWS. 

Sec. 7119. Upon the day of sale the collector shall 
offer the lands at public auction in separate subdivisions, 
beginning with number one and ending with the last 
mentioned division. Such sale shall be made between 
the hours of 12 m. and 3 p. m., but may be continued 
from day to day at the same place and between the same 
hours until all have been sold or offered. The sale shall 
be made for cash. If any bidder shall fail to perfect 
his bid by paying the cash, the collector shall immedi- 
ately resell the land and the bidder shall be responsible 
for the difference between his bid and the price at which 
the land sold, which, may be recovered from him by 
the collector, in action for the use of the township, and 
the collector shall, if necessary, at once institute suit 
against such bidder to recover the amount of dif(;erence 
between his bid and the price at which the land sold. 
No tract or such division shall be sold for less than 
three-fourths of its appraised value. Provided, No tract 
or subdivision of the sixteenth section lands shall be 
sold at a less price than one dollar and twenty-five cents 
per acre. If any tract offered is not sold it may be of- 
fered again upon like notice, upon the first day of the 
next, or any succeeding term of the county court, and 
so on until sold without a new petition. 

Sec. 71'20. The collector shall, without delay, re- 
port all sales to the county court, which may reject or 
confirm the same. If any sale be rejected, the county 
court may direct the collector to again advertise and 
offer the land, and may specify the minimum price at 
which the tract or tracts may be sold, not to be less 
than two-thirds of its appraised value. Provided, No 
tract or subdivision of the sixteenth section lands shall 
be sold at a less price than one dollar and twenty-five 
cents per acre. If the sale be confirmed by the county 
court the collector shall execute and deliver to the pur- 
chaser a certificate in the following form : 

I collector in and for the county 

of , state of Arkansas, certify that 

has purchased of section , in township 

, range , containing acres 

at $ dollars per acre, and has paid to me in full 

the sum of $ dollars. The expense of the 

sale was: 



SCHOOL LAWS. 87 

Cost of advertising, $ 

Cost of order of confirmation, $ 

Cost of rejection of prior sale, $. 

Surveyor's fee (if any), $ 

Collector's commission, .... per cent., $ 

Leaving a net balance of $ in my hands 

due the sixteenth (16) section fund account of this 
county. 

Now, therefore, upon the presentation of this cer- 
tificate to the commissioner of state lands, the said 

his heirs or assigns, shall 

be entitled to a deed from said commissioner of state 
lands for the tract or land above described. 



Collector of county. 

In all cases proper orders of confirmation or rejec- 
tion shall be entered on record by the county court. 

Sec. 7121. Out of the money received by t^e col- 
lector for the sale or sales of the sixteenth section lands, 
he shall pay the cost of advertising, cost of confirma- 
tion order, cost of rejection of sale (if any), surveyor's 
fees (if any), and he may retain for his services two 
per cent, of the gross amount received by him for the 
sale of such land; the residue of the money received 
for the sale of said land, after deducting the expenses as 
are above provided for, he shall at once transmit to the 
treasurer of state, who shall place the amount to the 
credit of the county's sixteenth section fund to which it 
rightfully belongs. 

Sec. 7122. The county clerks of the several coun- 
ties in this state shall examine carefully and closely the 
tax books of their respective counties and ascertain what 
person or persons are paying taxes on any part or parts 
or the whole of the sixteenth section lands, and it shall 
be the further duty of the county clerks after ascertain- 
ing from the tax books the names of any person or per- 
sons paying taxes on any of the sixteenth section lands, 
and the number of said lands, to examine the record of 
deeds and find by what authority and whether any title 
or titles vest in said person or persons in whose name 
or names said lands are assessed, and shall on or before 
the first Monday in September, eighteen hundred and 
eighty-five, make and forward to the commissioner of 



88 SCHOOL LAWS. 

state lands a full and complete statement of the exact 
status and condition of all of the sixteenth section lands- 
in their respective counties. The county clerks shall 
be allowed the sum of forty dollars each for their ser- 
vices in making this report, and it shall be paid to them 
by their respective counties. 

Sec. 7123. The county clerks of the several coun- 
ties in this state shall keep in a well-bound book, pro- 
vided for that purpose, correct and accurate accounts 
with each and every township in their several counties, 
which may be entitled to any of the funds under this 
act, and shall immediately after each and every sale 
of any part of said sixteenth sections certify to tne audi- 
tor of state the amount of moneys received by such col- 
lectors on account of such sales, and the auditor shall 
thereupon charge the same to such collector. 

Sec. 7124. A neglect, failure or refusal by any 
county clerk to perform any and all duties enjoined 
upon him by the provisions of this act, shall be deemed 
a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, such 
clerk shall be fined in any sum not less than one hun- 
dred dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars, for 
each offense, and may be removed from office. 

ACT LX. 

AN ACT to amend section 7114 of Sandels & HilPs 
Digest of the Statutes of Arkansas and for other 
purposes. 

Section 

1. Sixteenth section or equivalent lands maybe sold upon 

petition of majority of voters. 

2. Sheriff vested with powers of collector for purposes of 

this act. 

3. Repeals laws in conflict. Act takes effect from passage. 

Be it enacted hy the General Assembly of the State of 
Arkansas : 

Section 1. Whenever the inhabitants of any con- 
gressional township in this state shall desire the sale of 
the sixteenth section of such township, or of any lands 
substituted therefor, or any which have been or may be 
mortgaged to the state of Arkansas for the use of the 
school fund, which after foreclosure and sale have been 
stricken off to the state of Arkansas, they may, by 



SCHOOL LAWS. 89 

written petition signed by a majority of the adult male 
inhabitants of such township, require the collector of 
taxes, or if there be no collector, then the sheriff of the 
county wharein such land is situated, to sell the same. 

Sec. 2. That for the purpose of making sales of 
any of the lands mentioned in the preceding section, 
the sheriff is hereby vested with all powers now con- 
ferred by law upon collectors. 

Sec. 3. That all laws and parts of laws in conflict 
herewith are hereby repealed, and this act take effect 
and be in force from and after its passage. 

Approved March 26, 1895. 

HOUSE MEMORIAL NO. 1. 

Resolved hy the Senate and House of Eepresentatit:es of 

the State of Arkansas : 

That our senators in congress be instructed^ind our 
representatives requested to use all their influence with 
the congress of the United States so as to change and 
modify the compact entered into between the United 
States and the state of Arkansas with regard to the 
' 'sections of land numbered sixteen in every township," 
and when such section has been sold or otherwise dis- 
posed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and as con- 
tiguous as may be "and granted to the state for the use 
of the inhabitants of such township for the use of the 
schools," so that the said lands or any funds now on 
hand derived from the sale or lease of same may be ap- 
portioned by the state to common school purposes for 
the promotion of education in said state. And that 
the governor transmit to our senators and representa- 
tives, respectively, a copy of this resolution. 

Approved March 26, 1895. 

COLLECTION OF CLAIMS DUE COMMON SCHOOL FUND. 

Sec. 7125. The attorney general of the^ state of 
Arkansas is authorized and instructed to employ com- 
petent attorneys residing in the counties in which the 
lands are situated to collect all claims and notes due 
the school fund arising from the sale of the sixteenth 
section lands. Before taking charge of any such notes 
or claims, each of said attorneys shall be required to 
.give bond for the faithful keeping, collecting and ac- 



90 SCHOOL LAWS. 

counting for same, as provided for in this act, in double 
the sum of the amount supposed to come into his 
hands, and such security as shall be approved by the 
circuit judge of the judicial circuit in which said attor- 
ney resides, and such bond when approved shall be 
be filed with the commissioner of state lands, and the 
commissioner of state lands shall, when such iDond has 
been filed with him, turn over, or caused to be turned 
over, to the said attorney all notes and claims 
due the school fund pertaining to he sixteenth 
section lands. Said attorneys may retain, as fees 
for collection ten per cent of the gross amount 
collected by them under the provisions of this 
act {ff). The remainder of said gross amount, after 
deducting their fees, as above provided for, shall be by 
said attornej^s transmitted without delay to the treas- 
urer of state, who shall place the same to the credit of 
the sixteenth section fund of the county to which it 
rightfully belongs, and said attorneys shall prepare and 
forward to the commissioner of state lands a statement 
for each and every collection made by them, setting 
forth the name of the maker of the note or claim, the 
date of same, the dates of all previous payments (if 
any) made on such note or claim. 

Sec. 7126. All moneys paid into the state treas- 
ury arising from the sale or the collection of notes and 
claims pertaining to the sixteenth section lands, shall 
be by the state treasurer placed to the credit of the 
county's sixteenth section fund, to which said moneys 
may rightfully belong, and the treasurer of state shall, 
for each payment to him on account of the sixteenth 
section fund, issue triplicate receipts, one of which re- 
ceipts shall be filed with the auditor of state, one filed 
with the commissioner of state lands and one given to 
the party making payment. 

Sec. 7127. The treasurer of state shall, by and 
under direction of the board of commissioners of the 
common school fund, as soon as practicable after the 
receipt of any moneys paid into the state treasury on 
account of the sixteenth section fund, invest the same 
in either United States bonds or bonds of the State of 
Arkansas, and as interest accrues on said investment 

iff) See Wallace V. State, 54-611. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 



91 



he shall collect the same and place to the credit of the 
respective counties' sixteenth section fund accounts 
such interest on said investment, in the proportion to 
which each county is properly entitled. 

Sec. 7128. The interest, accruing to the several 
counties and townships, that may hereafter be in the 
state treasury, shall be drawn out of the treasury in the 
same manner as now provided by law for drawing 
other funds due counties, and when drawn shall be ac- 
counted for by the county treasurer in the same man- 
ner as for other county funds thus drawn, and the 
county court shall distribute and set apart to the 
proper townships all such sums and funds as shall be 
due such township, either from the sales of sixteenth 
sections in such townships or from collections of notes 
belonging thereto. 

Sec. 7129. All notes, claims, bonds, p^ers or 
evidences of debt belonging to the school fund, arising 
from the sale or sales of the sixteenth section lands, in 
the hands of county collectors or other persons, shall 
be, within ninety days after the passage of this act, 
turned over to the commissioner of state lands. 

Sec. 7130. All county treasurers, collectors, or 
other persons, having in their possession any funds 
arising from the sale or sales of the sixteenth section 
lands, shall, within ninety days after the passage of 
this act, pay the same into the state treasury, and the 
state treasurer shall place the same to the credit of the 
respective counties' sixteenth section fund accounts to 
which said funds do rightfully belong. 

Sec. 7131. That upon the presentation to the com- 
missioner of state lands of any certificate of purchase 
as specified in section 71 20 the commissioner shall exe- 
cute to the purchaser a deed for the lands therein des- 
cribed and shall keep a full and complete record of all 
such sales and of the deeds so issued, and it shall be 
the further duty of the commissioner of state lands to 
keep as correct records of sale or sales of the sixteenth 
section lands as the reports made to him from time to 
time may enable him to do. Act March 31, 1885, sees. 
2-18. 



'92 SCHOOL LAWS. 

/ PATENTS {gg). 

Sec. 7132. When the purchaser of any portion of 
the common school lands has heretofore assigned, or 
may hereafter assign, the certificate of purchase of 
such land, the title thereof may be made directly to the 
last assignee of such certificate of purchase, upon full 
payment of all the purchase money and interest due on 
said land. Act April 12, 186.9, sec. 10. 

Sec. 7133. If any person who shall have pur- 
chased any portion of the sections of school lands from 
the collector of any of the counties of this state, and 
paid one-fourth the purchase money therefor, and re- 
ceived a bond for title from such collector, shall die be- 
fore such payment is fully made, and the executor, ad- 
ministrator, guardian or legal representative of such de- 
ceased person shall pay or cause to be paid the balance, 
if any, that shall be due to the collector on said pur- 
chase, upon the certificate of the collector of the proper 
count}^ that the whole of the purchase money, with all 
the interest due thereon, has been fully paid, the com- 
missioner of state lands shall forthwith execute a deed, 
as is now required by law, to the heirs at law of such 
deceased person (hh). Ih., sec. 11, as amended act 
February 16, 1885. 

Sec. 7134. The land thus conveyed to the heirs 
shall stand charged with the amount of money ne- 
cessarily advanced to the school fund, in order to pro- 
cure title, and shall, in other respects, be chargeable 
with the rights and incumbrances that would have at- 
tached had it descended regularly to the same heirs, lb. 

Sec. 7135. All patents issued for sixteenth sec- 
tion, or any part thereof, or common school land dur- 
ing the war between the states and all the official acts 
of the officers of this state, in regard to such lands, dur- 
ing the said war, and also all deeds made by the com- 
mon school commissioners of the several counties in 
compliance with an act of the legislature of the state, 
entitled, "An act to relieve certain citizens of Arkan- 
sas who purchased school lands," passed March 4, 1867, 
are hereby confirmed, ratified and made valid, and full 

{gg.) See State v. Morgan, 52-150. 
{hh.) See section 7138. 



SCHOOL LAWS. OS-' 

faith and credit sliall be ^iven to said patents, deeds 
and official acts in all the courts of this state. Pro- 
vided, Nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the 
setting aside of any of said deeds or patents for actual 
fraud or mistake. 

Sec. 7136. Any right, title or interest which the 
state of Arkansas may have acquired, or holds by vir- 
tue of any judgment, decree, execution or sale of any 
court in this state, in lands for which patents or deeds 
have been made and issued as mentioned in section 
7135, is hereby vested in the proper owners thereof un- 
der such deeds or patents. 

Sec. 7137. The attorney representing the state of 
Arkansas is hereby instructed and required to dismiss 
all suits now pending for school lands where patents or 
deeds have been made therefor, as specified in section 
7135, or if it does not appear on the face of the plead- 
ings filed that such patents or deeds have beeft made, 
then the patent or deed may be pleaded in bar of the 
suit, or the court may dismiss the suit on exhibition 
and profert of such deed or patent ; and where judg- 
ment or decree have been entered, and sale has not been 
made, the state's attorney shall enter satisfaction in full 
thereof on the presentation to him of such deed or 
patent. 

Sec. 7138. If any purchaser of school lands shall 
have paid the purchase money thereof, and received no 
deed or patent therefor, or if any person now owing for 
school lands bought shall hereafter pay out his indebt- 
edness therefor, and shall produce to the commissioner 
of state lands satisfactory evidence of such payment, 
the commissioner of state lands is authorized and re- 
quired to execute to such person, or to his legal repre- 
sentative, a deed conveying all the right, title and in- 
terest of the state of Arkansas in such lands ; but if 
payment has not been made before suit is begun, the 
purchaser shall also pay the costs of the suit. Act De- 
cemher 14, 1875, as amended by act March SI, 1885, sec. 
18, and act of Fehruary 16, 1885, sec. 2. 

LEASE OF SCHOOL LANDS. 

Sec. 7139. All school lands in any county in thi& 
state susceptible of cultivation shall be leased by th& 



94 SCHOOL LAWS. 

county collector of said county from the first to the 
tenth of January in each year. Act April 12, 1869, 
sec. 12. 

Sec. 7140. The manner and terms of leasing said 
lands shall be by public outcry to the highest 
bidder, the lessee paying one-half the amount of rent 
in cash at the time of leasing and the balance at the end 
of the year. To. 

Sec. 7141. At least twenty days' public notice of 
the time and place of offering such lands for rent or 
lease shall be given by said collector by publishing the 
same in the newspapers of the county and by posting 
up hand-bills at the most prominent points throughout 
the county. lb. 

Sec. 7142. If any school lands offered for rent 
or lease at the time and in the manner above indicated 
shall not bring such price as the collector shall think a 
reasonable rent therefor, he shall be authorized to rent 
the same by private contract for the ensuing year, or 
for a longer term if he shall deem it expedient. Ih. 

Sec. 7143. The occupants of school lands prior to 
the passage of this act shall be required to pay a rea- 
sonable annual rentla during the time said lands had 
been so occupied. Ih. 

Sec. 7144. The lessees of school lands shall be sub- 
ject to the same provisions governing the lessees of 
other property. Provided, It shall not be rented for a 
less amount than was offered at public sale. lb. 

ACT XXXVII. 

AN ACT to amend section 3325 of Sandels & Hill's 
Digest of the Statutes of Arkansas. 

Section 

1. Amends section 3325. County treasurers not to deduct 

commissions from same fund more than once. 

2. Repeals all laws in conflict. 

3. Act lakes effect and in force from passage. 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly oj tlie State oj 
Arkansas: 

Section 1. That section 3325 of Sandels & Hill's 
Digest of the statutes of this state be and the same is 
herebv amended so as to read as follows: He. shall be 



SCHOOL LAWS. 95 

allowed, as commissions on the aggregate amount of 
all the school funds of the county coming into his 
hands in any one year, the rate of two per cent, and no 
more; Provided, That if any county treasurer shall 
have taken commissions from any particular school 
fund, the same fund shall not be subject to commissions 
in the hands of his successor in office. 

Sec. 2. That all laws and parts of laws in con- 
flict herewith be and the same are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 3. That this act take effect and be in force 
from and after its passage. 

Approved March 12, 1895. 

DISTUEBANCE OF SCHOOLS. 

Section 1539. If any parent, guardian or other 
person, from any cause, fancied or real, visit any 
school and insult any teacher in the presence of his pu- 
pils, the person offending by such conduct shaft be lia- 
ble to a fine of twenty-five doUais. Act December 7, 
1875, sec. 85. 

Sec. 1798. Any person or persons who shall, by 
any boisterous or other noisy conduct, disturb or annoy 
any public or private school in this state, or any person 
not a student who, after being duly notified to keep off 
the school grounds during the school hours by the 
board of directors or the superintendent or 
principal teacher in charge of any such school, 
shall continue to trespass or go upon said 
grounds, whether at recess or during the sessions 
of said school, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and 
upon conviction shall be fined in any sum not exceed- 
ing one hundred dollars. Act February 16, 1893, 
sec. 2. 

CUTriNCr TIMBEE OFF SIXTEENTH SECTION. 

Section 1800. It shall not be lawful for any per- 
son to cut or remove any timber or stone off the six- 
teenth sections of laud, for the use of schools, or any 
section or fractional section selected instead of the six- 
teenth sections. 

TEESPASS ON SCHOOL LANDS. 

Section 1803. Every trespasser upon the school 
lands shall, upon conviction, be fined in three times the 



9G SCHOOL LAWS. 

amount of damages done, and ahall stand committed. 
as in other cases of misdemeanor. Act April 12, 1869, 
sec. 13. 

ESTEAY FUND. 

Section 7266. Every person who shall take up an 
estray beast which shall not be reclaimed by the owner 
within one year, shall pay into the county treasury in 
which such estray was taken up, one half of the residue 
after deducting all legal expenses from the appraised 
value of the beast, and shall file the county treasurer's 
receipt for the same in the office of the county clerk, 
and the county clerk shall charge the county treasurer 
with all such funds as shall be paid into the treasury, 
and all such funds shall be apportioned among the sev- 
eral districts of the county, as other funns are now ap- 
portioned. Act March 15, 1897, 



OPINIONS. 



OPINIONS. 



APPLICATION OF FUNDS. 

BY JONES. 

I am, therefore, of opinion: 

1. That the funds derived from the state and 
from the per capita tax, and from the tax voted by th« 
district at the annual school meeting, after they reack 
the county treasury and are apportioned by the county 
court to the school district, become the absolute prop- 
erty of such district for the purpose of maintaining 
public schools therein, subject to disbursement on the 
warrant of the board of directors of a separate ^chool 
district. 

2. That, in other than separate school districts, 
the school directors may apply such funds to no other 
purpose than those directed by a majority of the elec- 
tors of the district at their annual school meeting. 

'A. That, in other than separate school districts, 
the electors may, at their annual meeting, fix a site for 
the school house, or raise money for building or pur- 
chasing a school house ; Provided, The directors have 
given notice that these matters were to be submitted 
for consideration and action, as required by section 69 
of the school law of December 7, 1875. 

4. That it is within the power of the board of di- 
rectors of separate school districts to apply any part of 
the fund belonging to such district, which has not been 
otherwise appropriated, to the purpose of building and 
purchasing a school house, irrespective of the source 
from which such fund came ; but that such power can- 
not be exercised by the directors of other school dis- 
tricts, unless they have been authorized to do so by the 
electors of the district at an annual school meeting. 
See School Act of December 7, 1875; Lee v. Trustees of 
School District 36; New Jersey Equity Reports, 581;' 
Sandels <& RilVs Digest, chapter 139. 

Note — Most of the following opinions were made before the 
publication of Sandels & Hill's Digest, and the sections are changed 
to correspond with those in that digest. 



100 SCHOOL LAWS. 

RIGHTS OF PUPILS AS TO ADMISSION INTO 
PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

BY JONES. 

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your 
communication of the 7th inst., in which you ask my 
opinion as to the legality and binding force of the fol- 
lowing resolution, adopted by the board of directors of 
the school district of Prescott, to-wit: 

Resolved, That such children only are entitled to 
admission as pupils in the Prescott free school as were 
residing in the school district of Prescott on the first 
day of the preceding September, and if names of such 
pupils do not appear in the enumeration, application 
for admission must first be made to the school board; 
Provided, That children of hona fide residents who may 
attain to the school age during the year may be ad- 
mitted to the school. 

The latter clause of section 7101, Sandels & Hill's- 
Digest, reads as follows: ''The board," referring to 
the board of directors of single school districts, "may 
make rules and regulations for their own government, 
and for the dispatch and regulation of the school busi- 
ness and affairs of the district not inconsistent with 
law." 

The supreme court of Iowa, in the ease of Burdick 
V. Babcock, SI Iowa, 862, 865, in speaking of certian 
rules adopted by the board of directors of a school dis- 
trict by which certain pupils were suspended from the 
school for absence and tardiness says: '"Any rule of 
the school, not subversive of the rights of the children 
or parents, or in conflict with humanity and the pre- 
cepts of divine law, which intends to advance the olj- 
ject of law in establishing pubhc schools, must be con- 
sidered reasonable and proper." 

So, in this case, the single question seems to me- 
to be: Is the regulation of the Prescott board sul)- 
versive of the rights of the children and parents, or m 
conflict with humanity and the precepts of divine law,, 
and does it tend not to advance the object of the law in 
establishing public schools! If not, then it is unreas- 
onable and improper and cannot be enforced. And 
this is the question to be determined aLi should oe de- 



SCHOOL LAWS. 101 

"fcermined, as I conceive, by ascertaining as nearly as 
possible the spirit and intention of the legislature in di- 
viding the counties into school districts, and investing 
each of such districts with certain powers to be exer- 
cised independently of others, and the scope and extent 
-of such powers. 

We find article 14 of the constitution of this state, 
section 3, that it is made the duty of the general as- 
sembly to provide by general laws for the support of 
■common schools by taxes, not to exceed in any one 
year two mills on the dollar on the taxable property of 
the state ; and by an annual per capita tax of one dollar, 
to be assessed on every male inhaoitant of this state 
over the age of twenty-one years. This much is im- 
perative on the general assembly; but the same section 
provides that ^'the general assembly may, by general 
law, authorize school districts to levy, by a vot^ of the 
qualified electors of such district, a tax not to exceed 
five mills on the dollar in any one year for school pur- 
poses; Provided, jurtlier ^ That no such tax shall be ap- 
propriated to any other purpose, nor to any other dis- 
trict than that for which it was levied." 

Thus, we see school districts are recognized by the 
constitution, and they are put beyond the power of the 
legislature, so far as the levying taxes for school pur- 
poses within their respective limits is concerned, and 
such tax can only be levied by the vote of the electors 
■of the district (Cole v. BlackiveU, 38 Ark., 271); and 
can be appropriated to no other purpose, nor to any 
other district than that for which it was levied. The 
legislature is only authorized to confer upon the dis- 
tricts the power to levy such tax, but cannot compel 
the levy. This power has been conferred, and each 
district is made a body corporate, capable of suing and 
being sued, contracting and being contracted with, ac- 
quiring and holding property, etc., etc., etc. 

Section 7113 ih., makes the provisions of the gen- 
eral school laws of the state, so far as applicable and 
not inconsistent or repugnant mtli the provisions of 
the special act for the regulation of public schools in 
cities and towns, apply to districts organized under said 
special act. Under the general school laws we find 
that the directors of each district sliall annually, be- 



102 SCHOOL LAWS. 

tween the first and tenth days of September, transmit 
to the county examiner a written report of names and 
ages of all persons between the ages of six and twenty- 
one years residing in their district on the first day of 
September {sec. 7077 lb.); that the county examiner 
shall make a similar report to the superintendent of 
public instruction on or before the twentieth day of 
September (sees. 7020 and 7023, ib) ; and to the county 
clerk of his county between the tenth and twentieth of 
September (ib. sec. 6995), which shall be laid by the 
county clerk before the county court (ib., sec. 6996); 
and that the county court shall distribute the distribu- 
tive share of the county apportioned by the superin- 
tendent to the several districts in proportion to the 
number of persons within school age, respectively (ib., 
sec. 6993). 

We further find that the directors ''shall submit to 
the district, at the annual meeting, an estimate of the 
expenses of the district for that year, including the ex- 
penses of the school for the term of three months for 
the next year, after deducting the probable amount of 
school moneys to be apportioned to the district for that 
school year, and shall also submit an estimate of the 
expenses per month of continuing the school beyond 
the term of three months, and of whatever else may be 
necessary for the comfort and advancement of said 
school" (ib., sec. 7049). And it is upon this report 
that the qualified electors, at their annual school meet- 
ing, act, when they determine the amount of taxes to 
be raised out of the district for the support of its 
schools. 

The qualified electors of each district select the di- 
rectors, who are entrusted with the management of the 
school afiiairs, and who in that capacity act as the rep- 
resentatives of the electors. 

From all these provisions of the constitution and 
laws of the state, it seems apparent to me to be the 
policy of our state, that each school district should have 
the care and management of its entire school interests, 
independent of any control except the limitations pre- 
scribed by the law. How, it may well be asked, can a 
district provide the necessary means to carry on its 
schools, when persons outside of the district, who have 



SCHOOL LAWS. 103 

contributed nothing towards the support or mainten- 
ance of the schools, shall have the absolute right to 
bring their children within the district, after the time 
for enumeration has passed, and compel their admis- 
sion to the school as a matter of right? If it may be 
done by one person, it may be done by a thousand, or 
more; the principle is the same. And thus we may 
find a school district which has only provided the means 
necessary to support its own children — and this is all it 
can be required to do — forced to take into its schools 
other children for whom no provision has, or can be, 
made during the scholastic year, and without the power 
to provide adequate means for such a contingency. It 
could only result in disaster to the entire school inter- 
ests of the district, which could certainly never have 
been within the contemplation of the law-makers. 

The county court is empowered by the law to 
transfer children from one district to another (%., sec. 
7o62). But in every such case tax of such children, 
levied by the district from which they were transferred, 
goes with them, and is used for their education {ib., 
sees. 7063 and 7064). Why does the law make such 
provisions, if it be true that the right exists without 
such exercise of authority by the county court ! The 
Tery fact of the law making such provisions is evidence 
of the fact that the right does not otherwise exist. 

The regulation of the Prescott school board does 
not absolutely exclude from the district school the 
children whose names fail to appear on the enumera- 
tion list, but it merely requires such children to make 
application to the board for admission before they shall 
be entitled to enter the school. By this means the 
board can judge whether such children should or should 
not be admitted. If it should act arbitrarily or un- 
justly, and refuse admission to one lawfully entitled, 
the law has pro^dded an ample remedy for such cases. 
By the regulation the board can protect the district 
against imposition and fraud, and the better advance 
the objects for which free schools were organized. 

I am, therefore, of the opinion that the regulation 
of the Prescott school board, above set forth, is reason- 
able and proper, and may be enforced. 



104 SCHOOL LAWS. 

BY JONES. 

Directors may not exclude children from any 
school to which they are lawfully entitled to admission. 

In answer to your communication of this date, in 
which you ask my opinion upon the question, "whether 
the children of school age of parents who have become 
bona fide residents of a school district since the last enu- 
meration are entitled to admission into the public 
schools of the district free of charge," I have the honor 
to say that I am of opinion that they are so entitled. 

This opinion is not at all at variance with my 
opinion to you, of date March 10, 1885, contained in 
my biennial report to the governor in December, 1886, 
at page 72 ab seq. By reference to that opinion, it will 
be seen the question presented to me was whether a 
certain regulation adopted by the board of directors of 
the school district of Prescott was legal and binding. 
The regulation was as follows: 

^'■Resolved, That such children are only entitled to 
admission as pupils in the Prescott free school as were 
residing in the school district of Prescott on the ffrst 
day of the preceding September, and if names of such 
pupils do not appear in the enumeration, application 
for admission must first be made to school board. 
Provided, The children of bona fide residents who may 
attain to the school age during the j^ear may he ad- 
mitted to the school." 

In the conclusion of that opinion, I said: "The 
regulation of the Prescott school board does not 
absolutely exclude from the district school the children 
whose names fail to appear on the enumeration list, 
but it merely requires such children to make applica- 
tion to the board for admission before they shall be 
entitled to enter the school. By this means the board 
can judge whether they should or should not be ad- 
mitted. If it should act arbitrarily or unjustly, and 
should refuse admission to one lawfully entitled, the 
law has provided an ample remed}^ for such cases. By 
the regulation, the board can protect the district from 
imposition and fraud, and to better advance the objects 
for which free schools were organized." 

The qustion now presented by you does not relate 
to the power of such boards to make regulations and 



SCHOOL LAWS. 105 

rules for tlieir own government, and for the dispatch 
and reglation of the school business and affairs of the 
district, not inconsistent with law. Such power is 
vested in them b}^ the statute {Digest^ sec. 7101); but 
it is whether they can exclude from the public schools 
any child who is lawfully entitled to admission. This 
they cannot do. 

Directors should remember that the right to attend school 
^rows out of bona fide residence and not from an enumeration in a 
district or the payment of taxes. When a man moves into a dis- 
trict with the intention of making it his permanent residence, he 
acquires the right to send to the public schools at once. The direc- 
tors are to decide from all the circumstances whether the residence 
is permanent or temporary. If temporary no free school privileges 
obtain. — [Superintendent. 

BY KINS WORTHY. 

I am in receipt of your favor of recent date, asking 
the following questions: _ 

First. If a pupil becomes twenty-one years of age 
during the progress of school, said pupil having been 
duly enumerated, can the said pupil claim the benefit 
of school privileges f 

Second. A person whose children had been duly 
■enumerated and were attending school, moves to an- 
other district, yet leaves his children to continue at 
school, boarding them for that purpose. Should these 
children be compelled to pay tuition, or are they en- 
titled to school privileges just as if the parent had not 
moved? 

Answering these questions I have this to say : 

First. The rights of children to attend public 
schools are not determined by enumeration and appor- 
tionment. This is done for the purpose of obtaining 
an equitable distribution of the funds.' 

The right to attend school is a constitutional and 
statutory one, based entirely upon age and residence. 
All children in this state between the ages of six and 
twenty-one are- entitled to the privileges of the public 
schools in the district where they reside. The day a 
•child reaches the age of six years, though the public 
school may be in progress, he is entitled to the privil- 
eges of the school. He loses this privilege the d-dj he 
becomes twenty-one years of age. The fact that the 
school was in progress, while he was in attendance, 



106 SCHOOL LAWS. 

would ^ive him no more privileges than he would have 
if he were not attending at the time. 

However, under section 7061 of Sandels & Hill's 
Digest, which reads as follows: "They (meaning di- 
rectors) may permit older persons to attend school un- 
der such regulations as they may deem proper," it is 
entirely discretionary with the directors whether or not 
one, who has reached the age of twenty-one years, will 
be permitted to attend the public school. If the direct- 
ors should decide to permit one over the age of twenty- 
one years to attend the public school, the teacher of 
said school would be forced to give him instruction the 
same as if he were within the school age, unless the 
contract signed by said directors and said teacher for 
teaching said school regulated this matter. 

Second. If pupils are of statutory age and are 
living in the district, with the intention of remaining 
there, they are entitled to the privileges of the schools 
of said district, whether they are enumerated or not, 
but they are not entitled to the privileges of the schools 
in any other district. If a child is of the statutory age, 
he becomes entitled to all the privileges of the public 
school of a district the very day he becomes a resident 
of said district. He loses the privilege of the schools of 
a district the very day he becomes a non-resident of 
said district, so if a parent should remove from a school 
district, his children would lose the privileges of attend- 
ing the public schools of said district the day he became 
a non-resident of the same. 

However under section 7102 of Sandels & Hill's 
Digest, the directors of special school districts, in cities 
and towns, are authorized to admit pupils not belong- 
ing to the district, on such terms as they may agre& 
upon with the parents or guardians of said pupils, or 
the district whence they came, so in special school dis- 
tricts the directors of said district may permit pupils 
not belonging to a district to attend school therein. 

BY JONES. 

Power of county court to fill vacancies in office of 
county examiner: 

You refer me to section 7000, Sandels & Hill's 
Digest, requiring the county court of each county, at 
the first term thereof after each general election, to ap- 



SCHOOL LAWS. 107 

point a county examiner, and ask my opinion as to the 
power of the county court to make such appointment 
at any other time when a vacancy occurs in the office of 
county examiner. In reply I will say, that the matter 
of making such appointments being invested in the 
county court, it certainly has the power to fill any 
vacancy which may occur, but the tenure of office of 
such appointee will expire at the first term of the county 
court which shall be held after the next general elec- 
tion, when another appointment must be made. 

BY JONES. 

School directors may not teach in their own dis- 
tricts : 

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your 
communication of the 3d instant, in which you ask my 
opinion upon the following questions : 

''First — Can a school director be legally employed 
to teach in the public schools of his own district? 

"Second — If not, what remedy have the people, if 
the directors presist in employing one of their own 
number to teach!" 

In reply: 

The office of school director is one of trust. Prev- 
ious to the passage of the present school law he was 
called a trustee. In many of the states such officers are 
still called trustees. It is, however, immaterial whether 
the name be director or trustee, the office is one purely 
of trust and confidence, and the person filling it is gov- 
ered by the same rules of law which govern other trus- 
tees, in so far as not to be allowed to make any profit 
from his office. It is a well-settled rule that a trusteo 
cannot use the trust property, nor his relation to it, for 
his own personal advantage. All the power and influ- 
ence which the possession of a trust fund gives must be 
used for the advantage and profit of the beneficial own- 
ers and not for the personal gain and emolument of the 
trustee. No other rule would be safe. 

By examination of the school law it will be seen 
that the powers of the director are very large, and for 
the failure to perform, or for neglect of any duties of his 
office, he is liable to forfeit to his district the sum of 
twenty-five dollars. 



108 SCHOOL LAWS. 

Among his duties he is required to visit the schools 
at least once each term, and encourage the pupils in 
their studies, and give such advice to the teacher as 
may be for the benefit of teacher and pupils. 

By other sections of law it will be seen what the 
■duties of the teachers are, and that it would be incon- 
sistent with those duties for him to be a director. In 
fact, if a director were allowed to be a teacher in his 
own district, he would have to make a contract with 
himself, and would be using his position of trust for his 
own emolument and gain. This cannot be legally done. 

I am, therefore, of opinion, in answer to your first 
■question, that a school director cannot be legally em- 
ployed to teach the public schools of his own district. 

As to your second question, if the directors persist 
in employing one of their own number to teach, the 
people of the district can obtain redress through the 
■courts to prevent such an abuse of power. They can 
•be enjoined from doing so. 

BY JONES. 

Clerks may not charge fees for performing the du- 
ties required of them under the common school laws. 

In answer to your inquiry, "Are county clerks en- 
titled to ask, demand or receive fees from the several 
school districts in their respective counties for perform- 
ing the duties required of them under the common 
school laws of the state — such, for instance, as filing 
reports of organization, of elections, of levy of school 
tax, of apportionment of common school funds, or any 
other duty enjoined upon them by said lawf ' I have 
the honor to say that the fees for clerks are regulated 
by statute in this state, and that unless the statute 
fixes a compensation for any particular service required 
■of that officer, he is not entitled to ask, demand or re- 
ceive any for performance of it. See Cole v. White 
County, 33 Ark., 45. 

By examination of the common school laws of this 
state, it will be observed that there is no compensation 
provided for the services required by the county clerks ; 
■consequently they are not entitled to fees for such ser- 
vice . 

This is not a new question by any means, Init litis 
been frequently passed upon by the courts of tlie va- 



SCHOOL LAWS. 10&' 

rious states aud by the English courts. From these de- 
cisions it may be considered as estabhshed law that 
where law imposes a duty upon an officer he cannot 
claim a remuneration for fulfilling it unless the law has 
expressly conferred such right. 

I am, therefore, clearly of the opinion that clerks 
are not etitled to fees for services required to be per- 
formed by them under the common school laws of this 
state. 

BY JONES. 

A school director may not be elected by less than a 
majority vote. 

In answer to j^our inquiry, I have the honor to 
state that all the powers vested in the electors of a 
school district, in their annual school meetings, must 
be exercised by a majority of the votes cast at such 
meetings, and that no power can be exercise(4by less 
than such majority. Consequently a director cannot 
be elected by less than a majority of the votes cast at 
the meeting. 

BY JONES. 

Separate schools must be maintained in every dis- 
trict for each race — directors have discretion but to 
maintain the schools. 

I am in receipt of your communication of a late 
date, in which you say: "In a certain school district 
of this state there are seventy-five or more white 
children of school age and only four colored children of 
that age. 

"In another school district there are seventy-five 
or more colored children of school age and only four 
white children of that age. 

"I wish to know whether it is the duty of the 
school directors in the first mentioned district to pro- 
vide a school for four colored children, and in the 
second mentioned district for the four white children." 

In reply: 

Section 1, article 1-4, of the constitution of the 
state, is as follows: 

"Section 1. Intelligence and virtue being the 
safeguards of liberty, and the bulwark of a free and 
good government, the state shall ever maintain a 



110 SCHOOL LAWS. 

general, suitable and efficient system of free schools, 
whereby all persons in the state between the ages of 6 
and 21 years, may receive gratuitious instruction." 

In compliance with this mandate of the constitu- 
tion, the general assembly has prepared a system of 
free schools, one provision of which is as follows: 

'The said board [of directors] shall make pro- 
visions for establishing separate schools for white and 
colored children and youths, and shall adopt such 
other measures as they may judge expedient for carry- 
ing the free schoel system into effectual and uniform 
operation throughout the state, and providing, as 
nearly as possible, for the education of every youth." 
See sec. 7041. 

The constitution of California, upon the subject of 
education, is similar to ours. The ledslature of that 
state enacted that the education of children of African 
descent, and Indian children, shall be provided for in 
seperate schools. In the case of Ward v. Flood, 48 
Col. Rep., 36, it is decided that it is clearly within the 
power of the legislature to enact such a law, and that a 
colored child may be excluded from a white school, and 
a white child from a colored school, where seperat« 
schools have been in fact established and maintained; 
but that "unless such separate schools be in fact main- 
tained, all children of the school district, whether 
white or colored, have an equal right to become pupils 
at any common school organized under the laws of the 
state." To the same effect is the case of State of, ex 
rel. Stontmeyer, v. Duffy, 7 Nevada Rep., 342. 

In the case of Maddox, et al., v. Neal, et al., 45 
Ark. Rep., 121, the supreme court of this state says: 
"A wide range of discretion is vested in these boards 
by the statute in the matter of the government and 
details of conducting the common schools, but in th« 
nature of things, there is a limit to this discretion. 
Some positive and imperative duties are imposed upon 
them about which they have no discretion. The first 
and most important duty of tne board is to make pro- 
visions for establishing schools. When the funds ar« 
provided, and the directors are not otherwise instructed 
by the school meeting of the district, the duty to pro- 
vide a school for at least three months in mandatory. 



SCHOOL LAWS. Ill 

and the duty to establish separate schools for the whites 
and blacks is also incumbent on them. All the pro- 
visions of the law in relation to schools, in conformity 
to the constitutional mandate, are general, and the 
system, as far as the statute can make it, is uniform. 
No duty is imposed upon or discretion ^iven to the 
directors about schools for one race that is not appli- 
cable to the other. It is the clear intention of the con- 
stitution and statutes alike to place means of educatioa 
within the reach of every youth. Education at the 
public expense has become a legal right extended by the 
laws to all the people alike. No discrimination on ac- 
count of nationality, caste or other distinction has been 
attempted by the law-making powers. The boards of 
directors are only the agents, the trustees appointed to 
carry out the system provided for. Their powers ar« 
no greater than the authority conferred by legislation. 
They can do nothing they are not expressly authorized 
to do, or which does not grow out of their expressed 
powers. * * * The opportunity of instruction in 
the public schools, given by the statute to all th@ 
youths of the state, is in obedience, as we have seen, to 
special command of the constitution, and it is obvious 
that a board of directors can have no discretionary 
power to single out a part of the children by the arbi- 
trary standard of color, and deprive them of the bene- 
fits of the school privilege. To hold otherwise would 
be to set the discretion of the directors above all law." 
It appears clear to me, from the authorities, and in 
view of the provisions of the constitution, and th@ 
statute above cited, that it is the duty of the directors 
of each school district to establish and maintain, with 
the funds at their disposal, separate schools for the 
white and colored children within their respective dis- 
tricts, so that every child of school age shall have th« 
full benefit thereof; and I, therefore, conclude and so 
advise you, that this duty of directors is not limited by 
the number of children of either kind in the district, 
but applies to one child as well as to seventy-five or 
more. 

Note. — This opinion represents the law as it stood at the time 
of its deliverance. Since then the legislature has authorized the 
transfer of the children of either race to adjoining districts where 
the number of either race in any district is ten or less. Now, if said 



112 SCHOOL LAAVS. 

transfer had been made then no school need be maintained. But 
where there are eleven or more children of either race they have 
the right to demand a school and it is the duty of the directors ta 
maintain it out of the funds in their hands. See sec. 7062. 

BY ATKINSON. 

The treasurer of state to place the ten per cent, of 
the sales of all state lands to credit of school fund. 

I am in receipt of your favor of the 15th inst., in 
which you ask my official opinion upon the following- 
points, to-wit: 

(1.) Has section 6932 of Sandels & Hill's Digest 
been repealed or amended! 

(2.) If not, who should place to the credit of the 
school fund ^'ten per cent, of the net proceeds of the 
sales of all state lands?" 

(3.) How and by whom are the net proceeds de- 
termined! 

In reply: 

[ am of the opinion that the section of the digest 
mentioned by you has not been repealed or amended. 

It seems to be the duty of the treasurer to keep 
books which shall show from whom moneys have been 
received by him and on what account. He is made the 
receiver of all public moneys not expressly required by 
law to be kept by some other person (see section 3255 
of Sandels & Hill's Digest). I am of the opinion that 
the treasurer should place the funds mentioned to the 
credit of the common school fund. See sec. 6139 Mans- 
fieUVs Digest. 

Section 3210 of Mansfield's Digest makes it the- 
duty of the commissioner of state lands to make a 
statement of the amount due or required by law for the 
purchase of state lands, in which he shall state concisely 
the particular matter or account for which said sum is 
to be paid, which is handed to the purchaser of state- 
land and by him turned over to the treasurer, 'j^his 
would enable the latter officer to properly credit the- 
funds received by him. 

1. Every transferred person must pay the tax: 
voted in the district to which he goes. 

2. The tax which follows the person transferred is 
what he actually paid on his realty and personalty. 

3. Nature of assessment. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 113 

Replying to your favor of the 26th iiist., wherein 
yon refer to me certain matters submitted by Duncan 
Flanagan, Esq., county judge of Clark county, relating 
to the construction of sections 7062-4 of fSandels & 
Hill's Digest, I have the honor to submit my opinion 
herewith. 

You ask: 

(1.) If a transfer of children be granted under 
section 7062, will the person applying for transfer pay 
the district school tax voted in the district from which 
he was transferred to the one in which his children have 
been transferred? 

(2.) If he has real estate in several districts, will 
all or what part of the district tax follow the transfer f 

(3.) In case of transfer, in what district must the 
real estate be assessed; and, if assessed in the district 
from which transfer is made, how can the district to 
which children have been transferred obtain th^benefit 
of the tax! 

The act of December 7, 1875, merely provided that 
"tlie district school tax" of the person whose children 
were transferred should be added to the school reve- 
nues of the district to wdiich he had been transferred, 
and should not be included in the school revenues of 
the district wherein he remained. The difficulty under 
this law was, that a person might transfer his children 
to a district which levied a five-mill tax and get the 
benefit of this tax, while his property was taxed as be- 
longing to the district in which he resided whei-e he 
might vote "no tax," and, if a majority of the voters 
so voted, he would pay no tax. The tax was fixed by 
the district in which he resided, but was turned over to 
the district to which he was transferred when collected. 
This inequitable rule was intended to be changed by 
the act of March 30, 1883, and the more reasonable 
rule, ^^Qiil sent'it comniodum, sentire debet et o)ims,^^ 
adopted. Although very obscurely drafted, the act 
sufficiently manifests an intention to transfer both the 
property and children to the district to which the tax- 
payer wishes to transfer for educational purposes. The 
act provides that the elector may vote in the district to 
which he had his children transfered. It is not to be 
supposed that he could vote there if his property was 



114 SCHOOL LAWS. 

assessable in another district. The proviso that he 
could not vote outside of his political township was in- 
tended to prevent the act from being unconstitutional 
under section 1 , of article 3^ of constitution, 1874. If 
he chose to remove his children and property out of 
his township and deprive himself of a right to vote in 
school elections, that was his own affair. ^'Quilibet po- 
test renunciare juri pro se introducto.^' 

(1.) To your first question, therefore, I answer 
that a person obtaining a transfer of his property and 
children to an adjoining district will pay the district' 
school tax voted by the district to which he has been 
transferred. 

(2.) The law only provides that as to the district 
school tax, the property on which he paid in the dis- 
trict wherein he resides should be transferred to the dis- 
trict to which transfer of his children is made. This 
includes his tax on personalty and realt^^ lying in that 
district only. 

(3.) In case of transfer, the property is assessed 
as if in the district to which transfer is made. Section 
7064, Sandels & Hill's Digest provides the way the ac- 
counts are to be kept where the districts are in two 
counties. 

BY ATKINSON. 

School boards must act as corporate bodies and 
separately as individuals. 

You ask, "Can a majority of a board of directors of 
a school district bind the district by a contract for th© 
employment of teachers, or for other purposes, without 
a full meeting of the board?" 

This question has been frequently adjudicated by 
the courts of the different states. I have collected a 
few extracts from them, which I present you, viz. : 

In Herrington v. District, 47 loiva, 13, the court 
said : "While it is true that a majority of the board will 
govern in the absence of a provision by statute, or in 
the articles of incorporation, requiring the concurrenc© 
of a greater number, yet their determination is valid 
only after the minority have had an opportunity to b@ * 
heard. A board must act as a unit, and in the manner 
prescribed. The determination of the members indi- 
vidualty is not the determination of the board. In 



SCHOOL LAWS. 115 

McCuUocJi V. Ross, 577, 5 Denio, the court said: 'The 
concurrence of a majority of the board when duly as- 
sembled is requisite to constitute a valid act. The 
assent of the members separately is not enough.' " 

In Townsend v. School Trustees, 41 N. J. L., 313, it 
was held: 

'^The duty of these trustees, in the selection of 
teachers, was not ministerial merely; they were obliged 
to examine into the qualifications of teachers, and to exer- 
cise judgment and discretion in their selection; it was 
the performance of an important public duty, in the 
execution of which conference and comparison of judg- 
ments were necessary in reaching proper results. It 
was an act judicial in its nature, and the general rule 
governing such bodies so acting is, unless special pro- 
visions of the is otherwise made, that all must meet, or 
have notice to meet, when official action is intended." 
* * * * ''It was clearly not the intention* of the 
legislature, in the school law, to confer upon the indi- 
vidual members constituting the board of trustees the 
power of acting separately in the selection and appoint- 
ment of teachers. The intention was to have them act 
and confer together, the result of their combined judg- 
ment, or of the majority of them, constituting a single 
act." 

In the State ex rel. v. Leonard, 3 Cooper^s Ch. 179, 
it- is said: 

'•'Neither the majority nor the whole of these had 
power individually to grant such permission. It could 
only be given by them when assembled as a board." 

"It was evidently contemplated by the legislature 
that a school district should have the benefit to be 
derived from the united experience and wisdom of all 
the members of the board." People v. Peters, 4 Neb., 
^54. 

In Wilson i\ Waltersville School District, 46 Conn., 
407, it was held: 

"The rule of the common law undoubtedly is that 
public agents may act by majorities, provided all are 
present, or have proper notice to be present. 

"Their duties are important, and require the exer- 
cise of sound judgment and discretion, and their action 
in the. employment of teachers may be attended with 



116 SCHOOL LAWS. 

important consequences, both pecuniary and moral. 
When several persons are appointed it would seem to be 
for the very purpose of giving the district the benefit of 
the combined judgment and good sense of all." 

I am of the opinion that the rules for the govern- 
ment of school boards, as promulgated in the foregoing 
decisions, are correct and proper, and should be recom- 
mended by you for the observance of those acting in 
that capacity in our state. 

BY KINSWOKTHY. 

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your 
recent communication requesting me to answer the fol- 
lowing question : 

"When does a newly elected member of the board 
of directors of a special school district become an active 
member of the board?" 

Answering this question, I have this to say: > 

Section 7091 of Sandels & HiiPs Digest states that 
annually on the third Saturday in May, there shall be 
elected two directors who shall serve three years and 
until their successors are elected and cjualified. This 
section does not state that said directors shall hold 
three years from the date of their election, but that they 
shall hold three years from the day they begin to serve. 

Section 7098 of Sandels & Hill's Digest states: 
"Each person elected director shall take the oath of 
office within five days after receiving a certilicate'of 
election." While the directors are elected on the third 
Saturday in May, they are given five days from the 
date they receive their certificate of election in which 
to qualify; so if a director qualifies within the said five 
days his term of office would begin the day he qualifies 
and end three years from that day, provided his suc- 
cessor qualifies on or before that day. 

I am, therefore, of the opinion that a newly elected 
director can be qualified as soon as he receives his certi- 
ficate of election, but that his term of office would begin 
upon the day his predecessor's term of office expires, 
which day would be three years from the date he began 
to serve as director, provided that time was within five 
days after he received a certificate of election; if not, 
his term of office would begin the fifth day after receiv- 
ing his certificate of election. 



SCHOOL LAWS. 117 

la giving this opinion I have not been unmindful 
of section 7100 of the digest, for this section cannot 
change the provisions of the sections previously men- 
tioned, as thio section is a part 'of the act of 1885, and 
the above mentioned sections are a part of the act of 
1893, so the latter act repeals the former act wherever 
and whenever they come in conflict. 

PURCHASE OF DESKS ON TIME. 

BY KINSWOETHY. 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
your favor, asking my answer to the following ques- 
tion: "May a school district legally buy desks on two 
years' time and issue its obligations on the county 
treasurer therefor!" 

In answer to this question I have this to say : 

1. School districts are corporations and%possess 
■only such powers as are given them by the laws creat- 
ing them. 

2. The directors of school districts are officers of 
such districts and have no more power than is given 
them by the statutes. 

Section 3, article 14, of the constitution, reads as 
follows : 

"The general assembly shall provide by general 
laws for the support of common schools by taxes, which 
shall never exceed in any one year two mills on the dol- 
lar on the taxable property of the state, and by an an- 
nual per capita tax of one dollar to be based on every 
male inhabitant of this state, over the age of twenty- 
one years. Provided, The general assembly may by 
general law authorize school directors to levy by vote 
of the qualified electors of such districts a tax not ex- 
<?eeding five mills on the dollar in any one year for 
school purposes. Provided, further, That no such tax 
shall be appropriated to any other purpose nor to any 
other district than that for which it was levied." 

This is the foundation upon which rests all the 
laws creating and regulating public schools of this 
.state. 

Under section 749, Sandels & Hill's Digest, it will 
be seen that the directors are required to submit to the 
'electors of their districts, at the annual meeting, an 



118 SCHOOL LAWS. 

estimate of the expenses of the district for that year, or 
in other words, for one year. 

Section 7029 of Sandels & Hill's Digest empowers 
the qualified electors of ' a district at their annual meet- 
ing, by a majority of the votes cast at such meeting, to 
determine with other things, the amount of money that 
shall be raised by a tax on the taxable property of the 
district, sufficient, with the public school revenue ap- 
portioned to the district, to defray the expenses of a 
school for three months, or for any greater length of 
time they may decide to have a school taught during the 
year, and to repeal and modify their proceedings from 
time to time. 

Thus we see that the electors of a school district at 
an annual meeting can only levy taxes for one year, and 
that for the expenses of that year. Section 7042 
of Sandels & Hill's Digest empowers the directors to 
purchase or build a school house with funds provided 
(not to he provided) by the district for that purpose. 

Directors have no more right to buy desks than 
they have to build school houses, as their power to do 
either is given them by the electors at the annual 
school meeting, except to the amount of twenty-five 
dollars, which they are allowed to expend annually un- 
der the provisions of section 7045 of Sandels & Hill's 
Digest. 

Sections 7054 and 7055 of Sandels & Hill's Digest 
state that one of the directors shall act as clerk' at all 
district meetings, keep a record of all proceedings and 
make a report showing the current expenses for the 
year, for school houses, out-buildings, fences, stoves, 
and other necessaries for a school, and also the amount 
of taxes levied on the district for school purposes with- 
in a year. 

It will readily be seen that none of these sections 
authorize the electors to provide for a school or the ne- 
cessaries to carry on a school or to levy a tax for a 
longer period than one year. 

Mr. Endlich, in his work on interpretation of 
statutes, section 352, statesi 'Towers delegated to 
subordinate local authorities are strictly construed and 
any reasonable doubts as to the existence of a particu- 
lar power resolved against the same." 



SCHOOL LAWS. 119 

Hence, statutes delegating to inferior authorities 
the power of imposing taxation or making liabilities, 
must be in clear and unambiguous terms, and are sub- 
ject to the rules of strict construction. 

No power is delegated that is not expressly given 
by law. 

The electors of a school district, as we have seen, 
can, at the annual school meeting, levy a tax for school 
purposes and for any articles necessary to carry on said 
school, but they cannot levy a tax for more than one 
year at a time. They can provide for the expenses and 
comfort of a school for only one year at a time. 

The law nowhere contemplates that the electors, at 
an annual school meeting, or the directors, by 
their direction, shall have the power to make a debt 
and thereby compel the electors of said district, at a 
subsequent annual meeting, to vote a tax to liquidate 
the same. 

This would indirectly give the electors, at an an- 
nual meeting, the power to vote a tax for a special pur- 
pose, so much to be collected that year and so much to 
be voted and collected the succeeding year, all of which 
J am satisfied they cannot legally do. 

I am, therefore, of the opinion that a school dis- 
trict cannot legally buy desks on two years' time and 
issue its obligations on the county treasurer therefor. 

This opinion does not apply to special school dis- 
tricts. 

EEOISTERINa AND PAYING WAREANTS. 

BY KINSWOETHY. 

There is some difference in the law regulating the 
registering and paying of warrants of special school 
districts, or districts composed of cities and towns, and 
that regulating the registering and payment of warrants 
of common school districts, so I will answer these 
separately. 

First. As to special school districts. If a warrant 
is presented to you and you have no funds out of which 
to pay the same, it is your duty to register the same as 
directed by section 7080 of Sandels & Hill's Digest; 
then when you receive funds belonging to said district 
it is your duty to give notice of the amount and kind of 



120 SCHOOL LAWS. 

funds received and if this fund is sufficient to pay all 
registered warrants it is your duty to pay them before 
paying any other claims, if they are presented within 
thirty days; if you have not funds sufficient to pay all 
registered warrants it is then your duty to pay out the 
said funds pro rata on all warrants registered that are 
presented within thirty 'lays after you have given the 
said notice as required by section 7081 of Sandels & 
Hill's Digest. 

If you fail to comply with the requirements of the 
sections above mentioned, you are liable to be indicted 
and punished under section 7082 of Sandels & Hill's 
Digest. 

Second. As to common school districts. When 
a warrant on a common school district is presented to 
you, within sixty days after it is drawn, if you have no 
funds out of which to pay the same, it is your duty to 
register and number said warrant on the date and in 
the order presented, and when you receive funds out of 
which these warrants can be paid, you should hold it 
and pay the warrants in the order that they are regis- 
tered and numbered by you, or a sufficient amount 
should be held to pay the warrants registered, Avhich is 
fully set out in section 7085 and 708G of Sandels & Hill's 
Digest. 



APPENDIX 



APPEINDIX. 



FOEMS FOE THE USE OF SCHOOL OFFICEES. 

Form I. Examiner's Requisition Blank. 



OFFICE OF COUNTY EXAMINEE, 



.18. 



To the State Superintendent oj Public Instruction, 

Little Rock^ Ark. 

Sib: The blanks and blank books needed for a proper admin 
istration of the public school affairs of this county are as follows : 



Kxaminer's Record 

Annual School Meeting Notices 

Directors' Estimates of District Expenses 

Certificate of Election of School Directors 

Certificates of Tax Levied... 

Directors' Oaths 

Directors' Annual and Enumeration Reports., 

Contracts between Directors and Teachers 

Directors' Warrant Books 

Examination Notices 

County Examiner's Annual Reports 

Teachers' Certificates 

Directors' Records 

Teachers' Registers 

School Laws 

County Institute Notices 

Poll-Books 

No. of School Districts in the County 



No. on Hand. 



No. Required. 



Directions for shipping the above. 



Respectfully, 



County Examiner. 



124 SCHOOL LAWS. 



Form II. 
ANNUAL SCHOOL MEETING. 

NOTICE. 

There will be an Annual School Meeting of the Electors of 

School District No. 

Countj^, at , 

the third Saturday in Maj^, 189 ... At this meeting the following 
matters will be submitted to the consideration and action of the 
Electors of said District: 



It is desired that every Elector be present. 



Directors. 
Date 189... 

Directors will please bear in mind that this notice must be 
posted in three or more conspicuous places, at least fifteen days 
before the time of meeting, and that the objects of this meeting 
must be inserted in the appropriate blanks above, as provided for 
in section 7035 of the present School Law of Arkansas : 



SCHOOL LAWS. 125 



Form III. 
TEACHER'S CONTRACT. 



STATE OF ARKANSAS, ) 

> ss. 

County of ^ 

THIS AGREEMENT, between 



as Directors of School District IVo in the County of 

State of Arkansas, and 

Who agrees to teach a Common School in said District, is as follows: 

The said Directors agree upon their part, in consideration of the covenants of said 

Teacher, hereinafter contained, to employ the said to teach 

a Common School in said District, for the term of months, commencing 

on the day of A. D. 189 , to paj^herefor in the 

manner, and out of the funds provided by law, the sum of Dollars, 

for each school month. 

Said Directors further agree that all the steps required or allowed by law to be taken 
by said District and its officers, to secure the payment of teachers' wages, shall be so 
had and taken promptly, and the requirements of the law in favor of the teacher, com- 
plied with by said District. 

The Teacher, on part, agrees to keep school open hours each 

school day: keep carefully the Register required bylaw; preserve from injury to the 

utmost of power the District property; give said school entire time and 

best efforts during .he school hours; use utmost inlluence with parents to secure 

a full attendance of scholars, and generally to comply with all the requirements of the 

laws of the State in relation to Teachers to the best of ability. 

Signature — 



Directors. 
Teacher. 



189 .. Place 

(See Sections TOW and 704r! of School Law.) 



126 SCHOOL LAWS. 



Form IV. 

OEETIFICATE OF ELECTION OF SCHOOL 
DIEECTOES. 



STATE OF ARKANSAS, ) 

I SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 

^County of J 

We hereby certify that at the Annual School Election held on the.. 

day of May, 189 , 

was elected School Director for the next years. 



Judges. 

This May, 189 

(See Section 7036, School Law.) 



SCHOOL LAWS. 
Form V. 

CEETIFICATE OP JUDGES AND CLERKS OP 
SCHOOL ELECTION. 



127 



STATE OF ARKANSAS, 
County, 



District No. 



We hereby certify that the election held on this day, in District No 

County, Arkansas, pursuant to law, 

the number of votes hereinafter mentioned were cast for the several persons named be- 
flow for Directors, and for and against Tax, and amount of Taxes voted. 



For Directors 


No.Votes 
Received 


For Tax 


No.Votes 
Received 


Mills 






Whole No. of Votes Cast 


























Whole No. of Votes Cast 
Against Tax 


% 


























For Teachers' Salaries 




































For Purchasing or Le 
of Houses 






mmt: 












For Building or Repairing 


































For Furniture and 
Apparatus 









































Given under our hands this. 
J^TTEST : 



.day of A. D. 189.. 



Clerks. 



Judges. 



NOTE.— This form is a part of the poll book which is furnished by the examiner 
to each district. 



128 SCHOOL LAWS. 



Form VI. 
DIRECTOES' OATH. 

I , do solemnly swear 

(or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitu- 
tion of the State of Arkansas, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the 

office of Director of District No upon which I am 

about to enter. 

Post-office 

Sworn and suliscribed to before me this day of 

189 

County Clerk 

(See Section 7036, School I^aw.) 



SCHOOL LAWS. 



129 



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130 



SCHOOL LAWS. 



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SCHOOL LAWS. 



131 



Form VIII. 

DIEBOTORS' 

ESTIMATE OF DISTEICT EXPENSES. 



Electors of School District No County ©/ 

State of Arkansas. 



We respectfully submit, in accordance with Section 7049 of the School Law, tke 
following as our estimate of the expenses of the Public Schools in this Dfctrict, for the 
term of three months during the present scholastic year, beginning the first of last July, 
and of the expenses per month of continuing the schools longer than three months. 



AMOUNT NECESSARY. 



For Teachers' Salaries 

For Purchase or Lease of Sites 

For Purchase, Erection ur Hire of Houses 

For Repairs of Houses and Grounds 

For Fuel and Incidental Expenses 

For Furniture, Apparatus, Light, &c 

For other purposes 

Total 

Amount which we will probably receive from the State Apportionm't 

Remainder to be raised by a District Tax 

Expense for continuing the schools _ longer than 

three m.onths, at dollars per month 

Total amount to be raised by District Tax 



The abeve estimate is respectfully submitted for your consideration and actioa. 



Directors. 



Dated, May 



189. 



132 SCHOOL LAWS. 

Form IX. 
BLANK WAEEANT. 



No DISTRICT SCHOOL FUND, DISTRICT No 

189 ... 

To Treasurer County, Ark.: 

Pay to or Order 

the sum of DOLLARS, 

100 
for , out of the 



.Fund. 



Directors. 
(See Sections 7051 and 7052 of School Law.) 



Form X. 

FOE PUBLIC EXAMINATIONS. 

NOTICE. 

Notice is Hereby Given that there will be a 
PUBLIC EXAMINATION OF TEACHERS 

At 

the days 

of ; A. D. 189-..., to ascertain the 

Professional Qualifications of all persons desiring to teach in the PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
of County. 

County Examiner. 

County, Arkansas. 

Date , 

(See Section 7009 of School Law.) 



SCHOOL LAWS. 



133 



Form XI. 
STATEMENT 

OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDS OF COUNTY, FOR 

THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 189 



Amount Received. 


U. S. 
Currency. 


State 
Scrip. 


Total. 


Aggregate 








^im^ 


^^ 


^iiii 


.iiiii 






From Common School Fund (State) 

" District Tax . 






" Poll Tax 

" Sale or Lease of Houses or Sites 

" Grants or Gifts 

" Other Sources 

Total.. 





Amount Expended. 


U. S. 
Currency. 


State 
Scrip. 


m 

Total. 




For Teachers' Salaries 

" Purchasing Houses or Sites 

" Building and Repairing 

" Purchasing Apparatus, etc 

" Treasurer's Commissions 


::=::: 




•i-ii 


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-^ 


-- 




Total 








Balance in County Treasury Unexpended. 


U. S. 
Currency. 


State 
Scrip. 


Total. 




Of Common School Fund., 

Of District Fund 

Of Funds from all other Sources 
















Total 















1 



> 



STATE OF ARKANSAS, 
County of J 

I do hereby certify that the foregoing is a correct statement 

of the Public School Funds of County, for the 

year ending June .30, 189.... 



County Treasurer. 



(See Section 7084 of School Law.) 



134 



SCHOOL LAWS. 



Form XII. 
Eequirements— Nothing Below Fifty to be Considered. 

For First Grade— Arithmetic, Grammar, Orthography, Eighty-five per cent each; 
Average of Eighty-five per cent in the remainder. 

For Second Grade — Arithmetic, Grammar, Orthography, Seventy-five per cent each j 
Average of Seventy-five per cent in the remainder. 

For Third Grade— Arithmetic, Grammar, Orthography, Sixty per cent each; Aver- 
age of Sixty per cent in the remainder. 



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SCHOOL LAWS. 135 



Form XIII. 

CERTIFICATE OF SCHOOL TAX LEVIED 

ARKANSAS. 



Office of School Directors, District No 

189 

TO THE HONORABLE COUNTY COURT 

of County, State of Arkansas: 

We hereby certify that at a meeting of the voters of School District No 

in County, held on the day of 189 

it was voted tliat tlie following number of mills 

be levied on the taxable property in said District, for the following school purposes, 
to-wit : 

Bxpense of Teachers, ----- Mills. 

Purchase or Lease of Site, - - - Mills. 

Purchase, Erection or Hire of House, - Mills. 

Repair of House and Grounds, - - - Mills. 

Fuel, - ----- - Mills. 

Furniture, Mills. 

Other I Mills. 

Purposes,j Mills. 

Total Amount Mills. 

And your Honorable Body will please levy a tax on the taxable property of this 
District equal to the above total amount, in accordance to law. 



Attest : 



Chairman. 
Dated this day of 189 . 



136 SCHOOL LAWS. 



Form XIV. 
]S"OTICE OF COUNTY INSTITUTE. 



Office of COUNTY EXAMINER, 



189. 



BOARD OF DIRECTORS, DISTRICT NO 

You will notify all Teachers holding Certificates of Qualification to teach in 

Public Schools, that a Teachers' Institute will be held at.... 

...on the 

days of 189 

Also that Section 7073 as amended of the School I^aw requires their attendance. 
Urge upon them the importance of attending. 

Very Respectfully, 



County Examiner 



SCHOOL LAWS. 137 



Form XV. 

OATH OF JUDGES 

OF SCHOOL ELECTION. 



STATE OF ARKANSAS, 1 

)■ 
County of J 

We, :• 

jjnd do swear that we will 

perform the duties of Judges of this election according to law, and to the best of our 
abilities, and that we will studiously endeavor to prevent fraud, deceit and abuse in con- 
ducting the same, and that we will not disclose how any elector shall have voted, unless 
required to do so as witnesses in a judicial proceeding, or a proceeding to contest an 
election. 



H. 



Judges. 



Form XVI. 

OATH OF CLERKS 

OF SCHOOL ELECTION. 



STATE OF ARKANSAS, 
County of 



We, 

j^nd '................... do swear that we will 

perform the duties of Clerks of this election to the best of our abilities; and that we will 
faithfully record the names of all voters; and that we will not disclose how any elector 
shall have voted, unless required to go so as witnesses in a judicial proceeding, or a 
proceeding to contest an election. 



Clerks. 



I DO CERTIFY, that 

and Judges, and 

and 

Clerks, of the election held in District No on the day of 

189..., were severally sworn as the law directs, previous to entering upon their respec- 
tive duties. 

Given under mv hand as such this day of 1H9.- 



(NOTE— Forms V, XV and X^'I are parts of poll-book.) 



INDEX. 



A 

ANNUAL SCHOOL MEETING: Page. 

How constituted 42, 76 

Who may vote 42 

Quorum 42, 78 

Powers of 42, 43, 44, 45, 78 

Who to hold 45, 76- 

Ballot 45 

How to count the votes 46 

Duties of county court 46 

APPARATUS: 

What amount may be expended for % 53 

To be approved by whom 53 

APPORTIONMENT : 

By superintendent 21, 22 

Bv county court 29, 30, 31, 83 

Basisof. 27, 21, 29 

ATTESTATION: 

Of reports 57 

AUDITOR: 

Duties of concerning common school fund 12- 

Superintendent of public instruction has access to 

books of 23 

ATTORNEY GENERAL (See Opinions) : 

Duties of as to common school fund 17, 89 

Opinion of, when given 22 

Opinion of 99 et seq 

AUTHENTICATION: 

Of any paper or document 24 

B 

BLANKS: 

Forms of 123 et seq 

To be furnished by state superintendent 19^ 

BRANCHES: 

For state certificate 23 

For county certificate 36, 37, 134 

For county examiner's certificate 33 

BOOKS: 

List of prepared by superintendent 24 

To be adopted by directors 5S. 



Jl INDEX. 

BOOK AGENTS: Page. 

State superintendent not to act as 23 

County examiner not to act as 23 

BOUNDARY LINES: 

Of school districts changed by court 28 

BUILDINGS: 

Report to be made of 58 

Care of, in whose hands 49 

Site for, how designated 43 

Funds for, how provided 118 49 

c 

COMMON SCHOOL (See Free School) : 

COMMON SCHOOL FUND (See Free School Fund) : 

Collection of 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 89 

No cost where plaintiff is unsuccessful 12 

Whence received 10, 11,12 

Tax to pay interest due 15 

Debts due 12 89 

County treasurers' commission on 95 

COLLECTORS: 

Duties of as to per capita tax 12 

COMMISSIONERS, COMMON SCHOOL 16, et seq 

How composed 16 

Time and place of meeting 16 

Who presides 17 

The secretary of 17 

Record of 17 

General duties of 17, 18 

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT 62 ct seq 

COUNTY CLERKS: 

Duties of 22, 31, 33, 108 

COUNTY COURT: 

Apportionment by 12, 29, 30 

Change of districts 27, 28 

To appoint county examiners 32 

CERTIFICATES: 

State 23 

County, form of 25, 134 

Requirements 36, 37 

Revocation of 36, 37 

CHARTS 53 

CLERK BOARD OF DIRECTORS 43, 45, 56 

COUNTY EXAMINER (see examiner) 32 et seq 

CONTRACTS GENERALLY 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 125 

COUNTY, NEW, Etc 81 



D 

Page. 

DISTRICTS 9, 11, 26, 27, 28, 29, 82, 83 

Dissolution of 27 

Boundaries of 27 

Changes of 27, 28 

Style and name of 27 

Powers of 28 

New districts 28, 3a 

Special or separate districts ? 75 et seq 

Transfers from one to another 66, 67 

Vacancy in office of 48, 77 

Rights of parties 67 

Must be numbered 40, 41 

Inhabitants of to be encouraged, how 39 

May be dissolved by county court 26 

DIRECTORS 47 e^ seq 

Become active members of board when 116, 117 

How elected 43, 47, 75, 76 

Cannot be elected without majority vote 109 

Duties of 47, 68, 78, 79, 80 

May not be county examiners 33^ 

When to qualify '^ ■ ■ ■ 47, 78 

Who to administer 47 

Penalty for refusing to serve 47, 48 

Penalty for non- performance of duty 48, 68 

Penalty for failure to report tax 68 

Vacancy, how filled 48, 76 

Must establish separate schools 48 

Must act as corporate bodies 114, 115, 116 

Have general charge 49, 30, 79 

Must contract with teachers 51, 52, 79 

Must adopt text books 53 

Must furnish register 53 

Must visit the schools 54, 84 

Must submit estimate 54 

Must defend for district 55 

Musi draw orders on treasurer 56, 82 

Must not teach in their own districts 107, 108 

Must close schools on examination days 67, 71 

Duties as to notices 37, 56, 57 

Duties of clerk of board 56, 82 

Must report to county clerk 57 

Must report to county examiner 57 

Must settle with county treasurer 59 

May permit elder persons to attend 65 

May suspend pupils 59 et seq 

Duties as to rules 59 ei seq 

Duties as to transferred children 66 

Duties as to private schools 67 

Exempt from working roads. 68 

Penalty for failure to report tax levied 68 

For separate school districts 75 et seq 

DISBURSEMENT OFFUNDS 73, 74 

DECISIONS 99 et seq 

DISTURBANCE OF SCHOOL 72, 73 

DICTIONARIES 53 



-IV INDEX. 

E 

ELECTION: Page. 

School , .42, 75, 76 

Who may vote 42 

How to organize 42, 43 

What may be done at 42, 43, 44, 45 

Who to hold 45 

Time for opening and closing poles 46, 78 

Form of ballots 45, 46 

Who to count 46 

Duties of election judges 46, 76 

Duty of county clerk 46 

Duty of county court 46 

In separate school districts 75, 76 

Majority to elect 109 

ELECTORS: 

Must have poll tax receipt 42 

Powers of 42, 43, 44, 45 

When to meet 42 

ENFORCEMENT: 

Of rules 59 ei seq. 

ENUMERATION: 

Report of 57, 58, 59 

EXAMINATIONS: 

Must be public and quarterly 34, 35, 36 

Onty teachers deserving license must teach 71 

Private 38, 39 

Re -examination 36, 37 

Schools must be closed 67 

Not to be held at time of institute 71 

Teachers nob to be charged for loss of time 71 

EXAMINERS: 

Appointment of 32 

Duties of clerk 33 

Duties of judge 32, 33 

Duties of state superintendent 33 

Examination of 33 

Examination a personal service 34, 35, 36 

Expenses of 41 

General duties of 32 et seq 

How removed 41 

Institutes must be held by 71 

May appoint deputy 41 

May not be a director 33 

Must hold public quarterly examinations 36 

Must present expense account 41 

Must keep record of licensed teachers 39 

Must prepare a report 31, 40 

Must number school districts 41 

Must encourage the people 39 

Penalties for failure to perform his duties 41 

Qualifications 34 

Reports to county clerk 31 

Revocation of license 37 

; Salary of 34, 41 



INDBX. V 

EXAMINERS— Continued. Page. 

What to examine 37, 38 

When to examine 34, 37 

When to qualify 33 

Who are excluded from examination 37 

Who may be cited to be re-examined 37 

Vacancy in office of 108 

ESTIMATE: 

Of school directors 54, 5i 

EXEMPTIONS: 

From road duty 88 

F 

FEES: 

Exaction of • 80, 108 

Of justice of the peace and other officers 12 

Exaction of 80 

Of suveyor , 87 

Of clerks 76, 87, 88, 108 

Of county examiners 33, 34 

FORMS: * 

For use of school officers 123 et seq 

FEEE SCHOOLS: 

Definition of 9 

High schools may be 10, 82 

Failure of county to receive school fund 31 

Fund, common school 10, 11, 12, 94, 95 

Claims due, how collected 16, 89, 90 

Limit of taxes for 9, 46 

Per capita tax f oi* 9, 11 

Power to tax for 9 

Right to attend 9, 59, 65 

Support of 9, 10 

What may be taught in 37, 72 

FUNDS: 

Common school 10, 11, 12, 94, 95 

Treasurers to report 73, 74 

Treasurers' commisson on 94, 95 

To be invested • 17 

How apportioned 22, 29, 83 

How paid out of state treasury 22 

FURNITURE 55 117 

a. 

GLOBES 53 

ORADES OF CERTIFICATES 23, 24, 38 

H 

HIGH SCHOOLS MAY BE SUPPORTED BY TAXA- 
TION 9,79, 80, 81 



INDEX. 



INSTITUTES: PAGE. 

State superintendent to hold 19 

County examiner to hold 71 

Not to be held at5 time of examination 71 

Teachers must attend 71 

County Normal Institute 2& 

INCOMPETENCY OF TEACHERS 37, 81 

Insulting teacher 



JUDGE, COUNTY (See County Court) 12, 32 

L 

LAND SURVEY, ETC. : • 

Required to be taught 37, 38 

LEASE OF SCHOOL LANDS 93, 94 

LICENSE, COUNTY 33 

Unlawful without examination 38 

State require oaents for 23 

M 

MONTH: 

Term defined 53 

MAPS 53 

MAYOR: 

Duties of in separate districts 76 

MEMORIAL: 

House No. 1 89 

N 

NORMAL SCHOOLS: 

Power to support by taxation 9 

County normal institutes 25 

Teachers must attend 71 

Length of county normal 26 

District normals 26 

NOTICE: 

Of annual school meeting 56 

Of petition for transferred children 66 

Of county examiners 36, 71 

Of change in district 27 

For separate districts 76,^77 

o 

OFFICE OF STATE SUPERINTENDENT ... 19 

OATH OF OFFICE 31, 47, 78 

OFFICERS: 

Election of, how certified 57 



INDEX. . Vll 

OPINIONS OF ATTORNEY GENERAL: Page 

Application of funds 99 

When pupil shall have school privileges 105, 106 

As to clerk's fees 108 

As to separate schools 109, 110, 111 

Directors must receive a majority 109 

Directors serve, how long 116, 117 

Duties of treasurer Ill, 112 

Duties of transferred persons 112, 113 

Power of court to fill vacancy 106, 107 

Rights of pupils 100, 104 

School boards, corporate bodies 114, 115, 116 

School directors as teachers 107, 108 

Directors become active members, when 116, 117 

Registering and paying warrants 

Purchasing Desks, etc 

P 

PUBLIC SCHOOL (See Free School) : 

Private schools can not be based upon public taxa- 
tion 9 

PROSECUTING ATTORNEY: 

Duties of as to school fund 17, 75 

PERMANENT SCHOOL FUND 11 

PENALTIES , 41,47,48, 58,68, 72, 74 

PRIVATE SCHOOL 67 

No taxation for support of 9 

POLL BOOKS: 

To be used by directors in annual meeting 19 

PATENTS 92, 93 

PETITION: 

For separate school 75 

For transfer 66 

PUNISHMENT 62 

Q 
QUESIONS: 

To be furnished by state superintendent 19 

R. 

RACES, SEPARATE SCHOOLS FOR 48, 66 

RIGHTS: 

Of district over funds 29, 30 

Of parties transferred 67, 112, 113 

Of pupils into public schools 100, 105 

REGISTERS: 

Form of 19, 27, 28 

Who to furnish 27 

Directors must procure 53 

Teachers' duties 70, 71 



RE-EXAMIISrATIONS: Page. 

Required 37, 38 

Renewals of certificates 38 

REVOCATION OF LICENSE 37, 38 

RECORDS; 

Of state superintendent 19 

REPORT: 

Of state superintendent 20 

Of county examiner , 40 

Of school directors to county examiners 57, 58 

Of school directors to county clerk 57 

REMOVAL: 

Of teacher 37, 81 

Of county examiner 41 

RULES: 

What may be prescribed by state superintendent. . 19 

Of directors and teuchers 59 ct seq 

s. 

SEAL OF STATE SUPERINTENDENT 24 

SECRETARY OF STATE: 

One of board of commissioners 16 

Shall be president of board 17 

May call meeting of board 16 

SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICTS 75 et seq 

SEPARATE SCHOOLS: 

For both races 48, 66, 111 

SALARY OF EXAMINERS 33, 41 

SCHOOL DIRECTORS (see directors) 47 et seq 

SCHOOL DISTRICTS (see districts) 26 et seq 

SCHOOLS LANDS 84 et seq 

SCHOOLS FOR CITIES AND TOWNS 75 et seq 

SCHOOL HOUSES: 

Tax must be voted for 43, 44, 117 

Director to have charge of and con tract for . . 49, 50 

Not lawful to fix a site for, or vote tax for, when. . 56 

Private school may be taught in 67 

SCHOOL LOANS: 

State superintendent to publish 22 

SECTARIAN BOOKS PROHIBITED 71 

SIXTEENTH SECTIONS ... 11, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88 

SPECIAL SCHOOL DISTRICT 75 et seq 

STUDIES: 

Report, of 57, 58 

SUITS AT LAW: 

Directors' duties 55 

STATISTICS 21 



INDEX. IX 

STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION: Page. 

Duties of with reference to common school fund. .17, 19, 20 

Apportionment by 22 

General duties of 16 ef seq 

To publish laws and render decisions 22 

Vacancy in office , ■ 23 

Not to act as agent 23 

To grant state certificates 23 

To recommend books, etc 24, 53 

Must examine county examiner 33 

SUPERVISION OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS: 

To whom confined , IS 

STATE LANDS, TEN PER CENT OF SALES 10, 11, 112 

SUSPENSION: . . 

Power of 59 

T. 

TAXATION FOR SCHOOLS 9, 10, 45, 46 

For normal and high schools 10 

TEACHERS, INSTITUTES % . . . 25,71 

TEACHERS: 

Assistants must hold license 51, 69 

Assitants must have contract 51 

Cannot suspend pupils 59 

Causes for revocation of license 37 

Certificates, grades of 27, 38 

Certificates cannot be renewed 38 

Certifieates, valid, for how long 38 

Certificates expiring while teaching, effect of ..... . 68, 69 

Characteristicts of good teachers 35, 36 

Examination of 36 

License expiring while teaching, effect of 68, 69 

May have 1 cense revoked ■ 37 

Moral character of 37 

Muht pay fees to county treasurer 34 

Must contract with directors 51; 52, 53, 70 

Must hold license 51, 68, 70 

Must use register .;.... 53, 70 

Must be reported by directors 57, 58 

Must reportinfraction of rules 59 

Must be examined . 36 

Must believe in a supreme being 37 

Must teach common school bleaches 37, 38 

Must be re-examined, when 38 

Must attend county institutes 71 

Must not permit sectarian teaching 71 

Must not be charged for loss of time, when 71 

Penalty for failure to report . . . , 72 

Penalty for teaching without license 68, 69, 70 

Power as to rules 61, 62, 63 

Power as to corporal punishment 62 

Superintendejit must hold license, when 52, 68, 70 

SvTperintendent must have contract 52, 70 

What teachers must report '. . 53 

With certain vices, may not teach 37 



X INDEX. 

TEACHERS— Conimiied: Page. 

Wages, how affected by revocation 37 

Removal of • 37, 81 

TEXT BOOKS: 

State superintendent to prepare list of 24 

Directors to adopt 51, 80 

TAXES: 

How voted and levied 12, 43, 45, 46 

How collected 12, 46, 66, 67, 68 

TREASURER: 

State 24, 36, 112 

County 24, 36, 73, 74 

Orders of directors upon • 55, 69 

Duties as to funds of transferred children 66, 112, 113 

Commission on school fund 95 

TRANSFERS: 

General power 29, 66, 112, 113 

Colored children, ten or less 66 

White children, ten or less 66 

Taxes of 69,112 

Rights of 67 

TRESPASS 72, 73 

u 

UNIVERSITY: 

Power to support by taxation 10 

V 

VACANCIES: 

In office of superintendent of public instruction ... 23 

In office of examiner 41 

In office of director 48, 77 

VISITATION: 

Of directors 54 

In separate districts 79, 80, 83 

VIOLATIONS OF SCHOOL LAW 72 

WARRANTS 56, 73, 85 

Statutes of limitation run against 66 

Registering and paying 119 



